Dali Planet #159: Heidelberg Castle
Germany’s Heidelberg Castle, still largely wrecked from assaults in the 17th century, hosted a Dali retrospective in 1981, one of many honours coming the ageing artist’s way. The king and queen of Spain visited him and Gala in Port-Lligat, and Catalonia bestowed on him a Gold Medal.
Shown here is “The Hallucinogenic Toreador”, painted between 1968 and 1970 at now on view at the Dali Museum in St Petersburg, Florida. Click on the image for a larger view.
Repeated images of the Venus de Milo, who Dali long before turned into a chest of drawers, mingle with dots and flies, which in legend swarmed from the tomb of St Narrciso to repel foreign invasions of Spain, to form a bullfighter in his suit of lights.
A dying bull is shaped by the rocks of Cape Creus. Gala frowns in one corner because she disliked bullfights. Catalan culture, religion and other elements of Dali’s life merge in an autobiographical jigsaw puzzle in which spotting all the ticks and tricks can occupy hours.
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