12 Things You Didn’t Know About Dali

1 He wore Elvis’ shirts. When Elvis Presley once visited him in Spain, Dali admired Elvis’ incredible shirts. Elvis gave Dali one shirt as a gift and the artist wore it constantly during the summer of 1963.

2 He had a walking ashtray. Dali had only one pet: a garden tortoise that would wander around in his house with a vertical silver stick and an ashtray over it, bringing this commodity to visitors who smoked.

3 His nickname was Avida Dollars. Dali received the nickname and anagram of Avida Dollars by the jealous Pope of Surrealism: Andre Breton.

4 He had a jacket he liked friends to drink from. He loved to keep a link with someone he appreciated. Dali created tuxedo jackets with hundreds of tiny drinking glasses glued on it. There was a straw in each of them and people would, in a cannibalistic way, drink from Dali’s fountain.

5 He was a movie addict. Dali loved Hitchcock and participated in the film Spellbound for the part that represents a Dream. Dali also did films with Luis Bunuel (Un Chien Andalou and the Golden Age)

and Dali influenced Warhol for his film: Warhol: Art. Fame. Mortality.

6 He would never say goodbye. Dali was superstitious and he and his wife collected flour leaf clovers. Dali would never say “goodbye” but bonjour (good day)!

7 He would start work at sunrise. Salvador Dali painted mostly in his house in Port Lligat, northern

Spain, because it was the only place where he could be alone and quiet. The Mediterranean light was fabulous there and he would start painting at sunrise.

8 He could recite Proust by heart. Dali had a very large library with thousands of books. He loved novels by Marcel Proust and knew entire chapters by heart. Many people don’t know that

Dali was also a great writer. (He wrote Diary of a Genius).

9 He would always stay at the same hotels. It had to be the San Regis in New York and Le Meurice in Paris where the Alphonse XIII suite was reserved for him.

10 He wasn’t a great fan of music. Salvador Dali wasn’t a great music listener, but he loved piano music that sounded like water drops. His taste was related to aesthetical experiences more than anything.

11 He used stationery in his grooming regimen. You would see him in the morning with Scotch tape

to keep his moustache straight.

12 He designed for Elsa Schiaperelli. Dali was a handsome man with very eccentric taste. He loved unusual cloth design and created clothes for himself and for Elsa Schiaparelli in New York.

Christine is the owner of the Argillet Collection that features more than 1,000 Dali etchings, drawings and tapestries. Each piece is now on sale. You can expect to pay $6,500 and $88,000 depending on rarity. For more details, visit www.redseagallery.com