I Could Stay Here All Night: Salvador Dali

When I was much younger, perhaps a little over 7, I had quite a complete collection of Disney Encyclopedia for Kids. It was quite a fad in the 90s, every other kid had this collection. So, before I developed my love for reading, I started with my love for looking at pictures. Visual images could completely catch my attention and I could actually stare at it for a long time and let my imagination have a run (known later on in life as 'stoning').

There was a painting that I remember in one of these encyclopedia books and ever since I set my eyes on them, I never could really forget the impact I felt. As a kid, I probably thought I was scared to see something so weird. But now, I could say I was more in awe. It had interpretations a 7 year old could never comprehend and I just sat there watching this painting imprinting itself in my mind. Quite fascinated, I did intentionally flip to the page where I could find this painting whenever I had a visual hunger.

Recently, this painting came back to haunt my memory. I was so curious about what the painting was about, who painted it, and why the hell was someone carrying a cross and fending off tall horses and elephants? It was annoying that I realize I may not be able to ever find my answers by googling "tall elephant paintings". Actually, if I googled "long legged elephant paintings" I may have found a link, but I didn't think of putting it that way. My mistake.

So then I had a pleasant conservation with Terence about art history and all. He told me everything he knew and the conversation lead to Salvador Dali, a surrealist at work and his famous paintings which included the long legged elephants. Then excitedly, I went, "Oh!! I've been looking for this person for a while!! How do i spell his name again?" Which lead to a series of online research and finally being able to look upon this painting once again after over a decade of ignorance.

Ladies and gentleman, shall I present to you the man that has been subconsciously looking for me all this time; Salvador Dali and his "Temptations of Saint Anthony", exactly how I remembered it to be over 10 years ago.