Dylan's "Times Are A-Changing" Vs. "Things Have Changed"--Picasso's Guernica Meets Dali's Hallucinogenic Toreador

One of the Dylan albums I have been listening to a lot lately is his Victoria's Secret Exclusive Lovesick. This 2004 release is a collection of nine great songs spanning the arc of his career. The playlist includes She Belongs to Me, Don't Think Twice,  To Ramona, Boots of Spanish Leather and It's All Over Now, Baby Blue from the first decade of his career. Then closes out with four late career songs from Time Out of Mind to Love & Theft.  "Things Have Changed" is the second to last track and I find myself repeating it each time I play this Lovesick CD.  As a result, the song, its lyrics and the way he delivers those lyrics has really gotten into my head.

As for the lyrics, this really is something of an unusual, even bizarre, song on one level. In a few minutes I will compare it to Salvador's Dali's Hallucinogenic Toreador. Like much of Dali's surrealistic painting, it's also infectious. And when contrasted with "The Times They Are A-Changin'" certain features especially stand out. In this case I will contrast Toreador with Picasso's explosive Guernica.

There are few long-time Dylan fans unfamiliar with this anthem of the Sixties and his third album wearing the same name.

Come gather ’round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’

Each verse has a singular aim, the first verse setting the trajectory. "Listen up. You see what's happening. It's time to act."

The second verse is directed to writers and critics. "This is a unique time in history. Pay attention."

Verse three is directed to our political leaders. Each line in the stanza serves that end. "Don't stand in the doorway, don't block up the hall."

Verse four speaks to the mothers and fathers in our land and the widening generation gap.

Finally, we return to the overarching message. Things are changing, with the very last line echoing a passage from the Bible (Matthew 20:16), as if the truths here were a prophetic utterance from on high.

THINGS HAVE CHANGED
When dissecting "Things Have Changed," Dylan's Oscar-winning contribution to The Wonder Boys, we find a song both similar and dissimilar. The similarity comes in the structure. We get a batch of words, with lines that rhyme, followed by the recurring theme from which the title is extracted. "I used to care, but things have changed."

Whereas with "Times Are A-Changin'" each verse is crystal clear as regards its meaning, "Things Have Changed" is the very definition of ambiguity.

What's more, and this is what has struck me about the song, the lines are interchangeable, and actually have no relationship to one another except inasmuch as they are sung in conjunction with one another.  Watch this.

A worried man with a worried mind
No one in front of me and nothing behind
There’s a woman on my lap and she’s drinking champagne
Got white skin, got assassin’s eyes
I’m looking up into the sapphire-tinted skies
I’m well dressed, waiting on the last train

Standing on the gallows with my head in a noose
Any minute now I’m expecting all hell to break loose

Each of the images is specific, but very few lines are actually related to one another, other than the woman in line three and the suggestion that she's got white skin and assassin's eyes. But even that is only implied. What if he were referring to himself with white skin and assassin's eyes, since the next line is he himself looking into sapphire-tinted skies?

If this is a description of a scene, are they sitting outside. Where? At a train station?

The gallows is a pretty specific image, too, but can plainly be a metaphor. And the statement that any minute all hell could break loose is punchy, captures a sense we've all had at one time or another, but what is happening?

The elements are very specific, but the overall meaning is completely ambiguous. You could change multiple sentences anywhere along the way and not change anything. For example, in the second verse he sings:

Gonna take dancing lessons, do the jitterbug rag
Ain’t no shortcuts, gonna dress in drag
Only a fool in here would think he's got anything to prove

But you can insert anything for some of these lines and it would change nothing. The lines in maroon are my inventions. (Not saying these are good lines, just that I don't think they change the meaning of the song.)

Gonna walk through a storm, gonna fill my bag
I've never been afraid to kiss a hag
Only a fool in here would think he’s got anything to prove

Stick my fingers down my throat, make myself gag
Clean up the dishes with a greasy rag
Only a fool in here would think he’s got anything to prove

I mean it seems almost anything would work because the verses aren't focused on saying anything. But whoa, the way he sings it still floors you.

A lot of these lines could have been borrowed from films he was watching or books he's been reading. That is part of Scott Warmuth's schtick. This Rolling Stone article points to the line "Don't get up, gentlemen, I'm only passing through" as having originally come from the mouth of Vivien Leigh in Streetcar Named Desire.

This is not to suggest the song doesn't make connections with listeners. In point of fact, it continually makes connections, but in a more convoluted way than many of his other songs. The third verse has a set of truisms that connect with the listener, but aren't necessary to connected to each other, except they do make a picture, a Hallucinogenic Toreador.

I’ve been walking forty miles of bad road .    Possibly True
If the Bible is right, the world will explode .    Sort of True
I’ve been trying to get as far away from myself as I can .   Possibly True
Some things are too hot to touch .   True
The human mind can only stand so much .   True
You can’t win with a losing hand .    Possibly True

Then he says he feels like falling in love with the first woman he meets, and putting her in that wheelbarrow to roll her down the street. It's an image that's easy to picture, but where does it go? It affirms the refrain for sure. People are crazy and times are strange.

GUERNICA

Guernica. Click to enlarge.

If you've ever seen Picasso's Guernica in real life, it's power is difficult to dismiss. A massive painting written in response to the bombing of a Basque town of the same name during the Spanish Civil War. Like the cover of album The Times They Are A-Changin', Guernica is painted in black, white and greys. And like the song, every element contributes to show the horror of this incident which has become itself a metaphor for modern war in which civilians are the ones who suffer. (cf. The Cold War's Killing Fields)

It was also painted at a significant moment in time. Ultimately a reproduction of this was created for the United Nations. War is a horror, it says.

Dylan's song was likewise "painted" during a significant moment in time. It spoke of an upheaval taking place that would rock the nation. An despite it's reference to a moment in time, it continues to be relevant in its timeless way, the same as so many of Dylan's prophetic songs, and Picasso's Guernica.

THE HALLUCINOGENIC TOREADOR

"The Hallucinogenic Toreador"

Dali's striking Toreador stands 15 feet high and can be seen at the Dali Museum in St. Augustine. It's absolutely stunning in person, like most of his work. And like many of his paintings, the picture is comprised of optical illusions. In this case, it's a painting of a pair of Venus de Milo statues, which when viewed in an alternative manner become re-assembled as the image of a bullfighter.

Dali combines a number of other elements to produce the effect, including bees, dots of color, shadows. And in the upper left we see Gala, his wife and muse, who is a feature of many Dali paintings.

When all is said and done, you can lose yourself in the elements or come away with the bigger--and in real life it is a much bigger--picture. And like Dylan's Things Have Changed, it makes an impression.

It's noteworthy that neither Dali nor Dylan explained their work and let their works speak for themselves. As a result, critics have endlessly dissected and analyzed the symbols and images in both of their creative contributions.

* * * *
Here's another example of what I'm saying from the song's last verse. Dylan sings:

Mr. Jinx and Miss Lucy, they jumped in the lake
I’m not that eager to make a mistake

Notice that he doesn't link these two, yet they stand side by side. He could have written, "I'm not that eager to make that mistake" or "I'm not that eager to make their mistake." Instead, he just throws in a line that rhymes with lake, so he could have just as easily said, "I'm just diggin' through the fridge looking for something to bake." Or "I'm finished with this garden, gonna hang up my rake." Or "I'm a little too tired to be on the make."

Whatever line you throw down changes nothing because when you finish the refrain it still rings true.

People are crazy, times are strange
I’m locked in tight, I’m out of range
I used to care, but things have changed

What do you think?

* * * *

RELATED LINKS
Picasso's Guernica
Picasso's Guernica Revisited
Dali's The Hallucinogenic Toreador
Dylan and 50 Years of Change
Lyrics: Things Have Changed

Arlene Schneller Talks About Art, Promises, "Winchester" and Artist Paul Castagna

Last Friday I attended the opening reception for the Paul Castagna exhibition at the Kruk Gallery, UWS. Though I shared my impressions here on Saturday, there was more to tell and I asked curator Arlene Schneller if she'd mind sharing. She welcomed the opportunity.

EN: What years were you in school at Gogebic?

Arlene Schneller: I attended Gogebic Community College in 1976-79 but went back for personal enrichment art classes with Paul Castagna as my instructor in Painting I, II and III from 2007 to 2011 for 3 hour painting classes in the evening.

EN: When did you first take an interest in art? How did that come about?

Detail from "Winchester"

AS: I took art anytime I had the chance. I lived outside Tokyo, Japan for a year when I was 10, educated at the Tachikawa Air Force base. I had a very inspirational art teacher there, I remember my blue shaded vase that won an award. I came back to the US and painted a watermelon from a slice of wood the next year and my English teacher loved it so much she displayed it in a glass case in the hall. I loved taking art classes in high school. My art and English teachers have always inspired my creativity. I volunteered in the community for over 35 years with kids' free art programs. I currently volunteer as a teaching artist for children's art classes for a non-profit art center called Downtown Art Place (DAP) where Paul and I both rented DAP art studios.

EN: Did you start out as an art major in college or did you veer in that direction after taking painting classes with Paul?

AS: I did not major in art in college. I have an Associates Degree in general business. (I was a real estate broker for 35 years with my own office. Paul joked that when I retired that I'd become his art agent. I retired and now my business background helps because I guess I'm his art agent now.

I experimented with many art techniques, I have a home library full of art books and DVDs that I studied. My mother-in-law was also a great inspiration, as a watercolor artist.

EN: You say that he entrusted his work to you because no one else was interested? How many paintings and sketchbooks are there in total?

AS: Paul deeply loved his paintings, it was hard for him to let them go. He was afraid his work would be a large burden for anyone to take on, he worried that it would become a "geeze" for me, but he knew that if I was given the task that I'd do it well. His two sons at the time were in their early 20's and he felt they wouldn't care or know how to deal with the responsibility and his father was elderly.

Paul and I knew each other for 8 years. We had a great friendship, discussed art history, artists and artwork we loved. He critiqued my work and encouraged me to become more serious about my art and to create a series of work. As his student I had my first solo art show at Gogebic Community College at Art Space, a gallery he created.

I have over 140 acrylic and oil paintings, drawings, sketches, plus printmaking images, a few small sculptures, some music he made, images, processes of his work on multiple external hard drives, video, and at least 10 sketchbooks. I have a vast collection that will take time to process, I am still looking through some of his work. It's a huge responsibility and an honor to accept a lifetime of work. It's like making a puzzle and putting all the pieces back in the right place. His son and his father have additional gouaches and other important drawings and sketches. Paul's father is giving me his paintings to add to my collection. Paul was very creative, talented and committed to his work as an artist, philosophical too.

"Winchester"

EN: You made three promises to him. First, to have a show. What is the status of the other two?

"Winchester" -- detail from left panel.

AS: The three promises made to Paul were First, to show his work, Second, to donate a piece to a museum, and Third, promise to "do something good" with his work. The Kruk is his first show. There are more shows planned, his work will live on. I've been reaching out to a few people I know at museums to see where we can donate a piece, I'm confident that will happen. The "do something good" is the best promise because it will be ongoing and continuous and hopefully make a difference.

My next show for him starts on July 2nd in Ironwood Historic Theatre concourse, attached to the Downtown Art Place Gallery. I'm selecting the next body of work that needs to be framed. Some of the work from the Kruk Gallery show, including "Winchester," will be on display at the Ironwood Memorial Building in mid-July at the annual Range Art Association show.

Details from center panel, "Winchester"

Last year and this year, his art proceeds sponsored local artists to produce murals in the award winning Downtown Art Park as well as prize money for a photography show and an art show held at Downtown Art Place. This summer proceeds will also sponsor prize money to the Range Art Association for their annual art show held in July. Next year we'll sponsor matching grants for artists, artist initiatives, donate money to art related non-profits and the Carnegie Library for children's art classes, as well as sponsor children's art awards. We'll see how well sales go because I'd also like to donate art supplies for area art teachers, too.

I see his artwork sales creating a wonderful ripple effect in area arts. What a great way to create a lasting memory. It's been heartwarming to be given this challenge and I know I'm up for it.

Castagna's pieces are for sale at the Kruk. Two sold before the show. All art proceeds will be reinvested into children's art programs and artist initiatives within the Gogebic Range community.

EN: You now have a gallery in Ironwood. What kind of work do you show there? And do you still paint?

Schneller Art Gallery in Bessemer, Mich.

AS: Schneller Art Gallery is on US2 in Bessemer, Michigan. It's a small quaint place with a gallery in the front and an art classroom in the back. It is open seasonally in the summers only. When reopened, my gallery will feature my artwork and jewelry along with Paul's and a few other area artists' work.

I've got plenty of ideas for Paul's work in the future. I plan to incorporate some of his artwork into copper resin jewelry, too. Another collaboration of sorts.

After seeing the beautiful "Three Promises Show" I was so inspired. A special thanks goes out to Anne Dugan and her Gallery Practices students from UW-Superior for setting up and preparing the show.

Detail from lower portion of central panel, "Winchester"

I loved talking to various artists at the reception. Remembering Paul painting some of them and seeing his work on the walls was so emotional for me, what a rewarding promise to fulfill. I was a collage/abstract artist, and yes, I am totally inspired to finally pick up my paints again.

It's taken awhile to get over the loss of such a great friend. I quit painting for several years as a result. Instead I focused on making copper jewelry.

It was just the opposite for Paul's girlfriend Kate Greenough. She's a close friend of mine. She's a very talented artist and has been painting up a storm and is more inspired than ever. She learned a lot from Paul, too. Death affects us all in different ways. He was my instructor, mentor and dear friend -- in that order.

My charity work at the DAP studio I rent above the DAP Gallery keeps me busy during the winters. I teach children, young adults and friends how to make Copper Jewelry. Then we donate our items to area fundraisers and sponsor children's art programs.

Across from the DAP Gallery in Downtown Ironwood, there was a recent fire where 3 people died. We'll be active in helping raise funds for victims and survivors.

Currently I sell my copper jewelry and art at Downtown Art Place Gallery, DAP is a non-profit 11,000 square foot art center (Gallery/Studios/Classroom) which I helped get started 5 years ago, while running my own gallery. I wrote their 501(c)3 and volunteered a great deal of my time. I will be selling Paul's work at the DAP and at 906BOOM and at my gallery this summer.

A deeper dive into the left-hand panel.

EN: Tell us about the overall message in Winchester?

AS: Probably Picasso's most famous work, Guernica, is certainly his most powerful political statement. Castagna's political statement made in the mural-sized "Winchester" features similar frustrations from tragedies of war. I remember Paul being so frustrated with President George Bush's troop surge of 20,000 to Iraq, then angered when Obama sent 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. Paul nearly cried, he couldn't believe they were sending more troops.

As a result, Obama takes on a sinister look with graying streaks of hair and long fingernails and Bush painted faintly near the bottom as if hiding behind a naked woman.

Castagna's "Winchester" was his anti-war symbol and a reminder of modern day tragedies of war. Castagna started with one center piece which grew into three large panels with references of small parts and pieces from Picasso's painting of Guernica, showing the madness of war repeating itself.

Castagna's symbols echo suffering, images of innocent people, greed, money, and newspaper headlines. I see fires burning, mechanical shapes stacked in piles of destruction, a power switch and one of his trademark angels angered in red. Picasso's influence is everywhere including Obama holding the broken sword, German swastikas and a dismembered foot. But of course, that's my interpretation.

It's an impressive piece that is difficult to translate for an ordinary viewer and reveals more than the eye can see with one look or one visit.

Interpretations of Guernica vary widely and contradict one another, just as Castagna's "Winchester" invokes similar thought. When Paul painted this masterpiece in class at one time the word "Winchester" was painted on it, when asked what it represented he gave no explanation. He preferred his work to be interpreted by the viewer for its detail and intensity.

* * * *

RELATED LINKS
Picasso's Guernica Revisited
Gallery Hours for the Kruk at UWS
More images from Castagna's exhibition at the Kruk

Flashback Friday: Picasso's Guernica Revisited

Steve Martin, in his autobiography Born Standing Up, describes the impression he received during his first visit to the Museum of Modern Art (affectionately referred to as the MoMA) as he came face to face with Picasso's Guernica. It stuns, and stops you in your tracks. When you see this painting reproduced in books it's difficult to comprehend its massive scale and the powerful effect it produces. Martin then rounds a corner and there finds himself awed by this miniature Dali, equally famous, The Persistence of Memory. It's an experience unforgettable.

Both of these share a prominent positions on many lists of the most significant paintings of the 20th century, Guernica topping the list and Dali's delicately rendered dreamscape third. (Duchamp's earth-shaking Nude Descending A Staircase, second but no second fiddle, hangs in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.)

The MoMA has as many as 300 Picassos, but Guernica's the one that makes your hair stand on end. The painting was brought to mind by an article earlier this week in the ArtDaily about a newly released documents and research about the famous painting.

Those familiar with the story recall that Guernica was painted in response to the bombing of a Basque town on April 26, 1937 by German and Italian air forces under the orders of future Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. The horror was committed not against an army but against a village. Hundreds died, a foreshadowing of the bombings that would later occur in World War II by both the Allied and Axis powers.

That same year Picasso had been commissioned to produce a painting for the 1937 World's Fair in France. Before the bombing he was having the equivalent of writers block. The horror of the bombing ignited Picasso's imagination and this monumental work was the result.

The online exhibit Rethinking Guernica is an extensive exploration of the history of the painting, its influence, its role as a political symbol, its influence, the controversies it generated and Picasso's own perspective on the painting. If you don't have time to check it out today, take a minute to visit the page and bookmark it.


LOCAL ART SCENE 
Small Business Saturday

Mandala with Southwestern Influence, Terry Millikan

Artists and authors are small businesses. Before you spend all your Christmas shopping money on Black Friday, be sure to save a little for small bookstores like Zenith (Central Avenue) across the parking lot from Beaners. There are numerous local art venues clustered here and there, including SiVi's, Art Dock and Northern Waters within walking distance of one another in Canal Park.

In Downtown Duluth, we have Lake Superior Art Glass, Art in the Alley, Zeitgeist, the new Ryan Tischer Gallery and Lizzards within walking distance of one another. If you park nearby and do your walkabout Saturday afternoon, you can catch the Terry Millikan art opening titled Meditations at Lizzards from 1-4 p.m. at 11 Superior Street W.

BONUS TRACKS
All Creative Work Involves Decisions
Guernica in 3-D

Meantime, art goes on all around you. Get into it. 

All Creative Work Involves Decisions

When you have to make a choice and don't make it, that is in itself a choice. ~William James

There are a variety of ways to watch a film, look at a painting or listen to a piece of music. One of the ways I frequently look at movies or listen to music is to think about the decisions that went into making it.

For example, Picasso's Guernica. How did he decide on the size of the canvas? It is an enormous piece, but it speaks to the enormity of the horror in the story it tells regarding the bombing of a Basque village during the Spanish Civil War. And why black and white? I am guessing the latter because he did not want to exploit the blood red violence and was focusing our attention on the emotional trauma instead.

All creative work involves decisions. As a painter I often wrestle with this one: when is a piece truly complete?

Writers wrestle with all kinds of complexities. What is the best way to tell the story? Through the eyes of the main character, as in Crime and Punishment? Or through the eyes of another, as in To Kill a Mockingbird. Should the writer use flashbacks or avoid them? Should the story be third person or first person? Why did Jay McInerny write Bright Lights, Big City in second person? And why is the central character unnamed?

When it comes to film, all kinds of decisions must be made. Casting itself is a major decision that can make or break a film. Bonfire of the Vanities was a disastrous film because of the decisions made during casting, thoguh also in part because of the treatment Brian De Palma gave it. All the best movies are notable, in part, because of the casting. The Godfather, Reservoir Dogs, The Illusionist, Moneyball... these films work because the characters fit the bill.

Long before there's casting, every Hollywood film begins with a story. The writers of that story have decisions all along the way. Before hooking the viewer, the script must hook the reader, a potential producer. How do we introduce the characters so that it is not overwhelming? How do we introduce the story's theme? Woody Allen, in his film Blue Jasmine, begins with the screwed up Cate Blanchett unloading some of the mess that is her life to a stranger seated next to her on a plane. Within minutes we get the picture, and it devolves from there.

Hitchcock's storytelling in film is legendary. In films like Rope and Rear Window, he completely restricts the camera -- and the viewer -- to the very narrowest confines. He challenges himself while enhancing tension within the story. Of course there are all kinds of devices for heightening tension, including the music score or sound effects. Try watching Psycho with the sound track of Marx Brothers' Animal Crackers. Another device is having the audience know something that people in the film do not know as in the movie Rope where the audience is aware, but Jimmy Stewart, that there is a dead body in the room.

In music, too, countless decisions must be made. I think here of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, and specifically the climax of the third movement, it's remarkable ascending rush and faux culminations, repeated again and yet again leaving the hearer both thrilled and exhausted.

Blogging itself is one of my own creative endeavors and many decisions take place here as well. I regularly think about how I can best serve my readers and give them something original and worthwhile each day. There are a hundred million other things you could be reading, so I want to make sure you get a payoff.

Often I like to open my blog entries, and my stories, with a thought-provoking quote. If I can find something quickly and suitably pithy I may throw one in here at the beginning of this entry.

Right now I am trying to decide what graphics to use to accompany this page. I am also trying to decide whether it's maybe time to give the blog a facelift, to give it a new look.

Then there is the occasional decision as to whether I should make a Dylan reference of some kind. I think I will leave that out today.

Finally, there's the close. Fast and furious? Or a more leisurely exit? Let's see what happens.

The very best to you, and have a great day. Thanks for stopping by. 

Guernica in 3-D

In the 1970's the Guernica hung at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Purportedly Picasso refused to allow its return to Spain until his homeland was a republic. All who had the opportunity to see the 11 foot tall by nearly 26 feet wide painting in person were rightfully moved. I certainly was.

This morning on Twitter, Art of Day posted a link to Picasso's Guernica in 3-D. Whether you like his work or not, Picasso's influence and importance as a 20th century artist is unquestioned. And this this interpretation is worth the four minutes of time you'll invest in taking in one of his most powerful works.

Check it out.

Dali: Madman or Genius?

“The sole difference between me and a madman is the fact that I am not mad!”
~Salvador Dali

Without doubt he was talented. And an individualist with enormous ego. Said Dali, “At the age of six I wanted to be a cook. At seven I wanted to be Napoleon. And my ambition has been growing steadily ever since.”

Was Dali’s bizarre style a put-on to increase his marketability or was he simply a madman whose talents brought him critical acclaim, despite his ludicrous behavior?

According to the Masterpiece Paintings Gallery website, "Dali's ego and need for attention were never satisfied. His thirst for scandal was unquenchable. And 'the thought of not being recognized was unbearable', he said. He used to walk through the streets of New York ringing a bell whenever he felt people were not paying him enough attention. 'Every morning when I wake up I experience an exquisite joy -- the joy of being Salvador Dali -- and I ask myself in rapture what wonderful things this Salvador Dali is going to accomplish today.'”

As an art student I found Salvador Dali’s sensational work remarkably invigorating and inspirational. Inspirational on two levels… first, his extreme attention to detail and the skill of his painterliness, and second, for the evocative quality of his imagery.

Steve Martin, in his autobiography Born Standing Up, in passing mentions an incident during a visit to the Museum of Modern Art in New York whereupon he comes across Dali's Persistence of Memory. Martin was quite surprised at how small it was. Like Martin, the first piece I saw in person was this famous painting of melting clocks. At the time, Picasso’s stunning Guernica was on the wall just before I reached Dali’s piece. Guernica is enormous, and impressive. Just around the corner Dali’s Persistence of Memory was, in contrast, a tiny little thing, yet astonishing in its detail. When you look at plates of paintings in art books, both paintings might take a page of the book, and your mind just doesn’t quite grasp the reality.

My second Dali was the shocking/fascinating Soft Construction with Boiled Beans - Premonition of Civil War which hangs in a private collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This is a wonderful museum, with the Dali piece accompanied by some of Marcel Duchamp’s most significant works, a great place to hang out if you are a masterpiece.

But if you seriously want to take in more than a piece or two, I strongly recommend you visit the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida which is wholly dedicated to this icon of Twentieth Century Surrealism.

While visiting the Dali Museum two springs ago, a tour guide told us a story about small sculpture composed of a lobster sitting on an old fashioned telephone rack. Dali, while dining, threw the lobster over his shoulder and it landed on the phone after knocking the handheld part off the receiver. He loved the look and made it “art.” Crazy or creative?

But the story that sealed my impression that he was a bit mad was when the tour guide said he went through a brief period in which he refused to say any two sentences in a row in the same language. So he would say something in Spanish, then French, then English, then Spanish, etc. This went on for days, maybe weeks. You can imagine the conversations that followed… or didn't.

If you've never been and you're anywhere near Tampa/St. Petersburg, you owe it to yourself to visit the Dali Museum. In contrast to Persistence, you will see fifteen foot high paintings like the Hallucinogenic Torredor, along with many rooms of other major works. The Torreador alone is worth the visit.

Although among the Surrealist Movement's brightest lights in the 1930's he was eschewed by these famous artists who composed the Dada Movement because Dali was a capitalist and they were socialists. As it turns out Dali mastered the art of making money, which contributed to his legacy. On the flip side, his mass production of prints of his work resulted in scandals that in some circles has damaged his name. It may be because his definitions of truth and ethics are as ambiguous as his motivations.

Here is a YouTube film that reveals the character of Dali's mind: self absorbed and over stimulated.