GOODBYE DALI Part 8: Have You Ever Been to Spain/“The Great Masturbator”? (#91G): In Cap de Creus, which lies within the municipal area of Cadequés, Pascual led us to Dalí’s (Dali) famous rock, “The Great Masturbator”. The rock is featured in three paintings. Most predominately in “The Great Maturbator” (1929), which is now located at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid. It is also included in the “Persistence of Memory” (1931) at the Museum of Modern Art and in “The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory” (1954) at the Salvador Dali Museum.
About the famous rock, Dali wrote: “In that privileged place, reality and the sublime dimension almost come together. My mystical paradise begins in the plains of the Empordà, is surrounded by the Alberes hills, and reaches plenitude in the bay of Cadaqués. This land is my permanent inspiration. The only place in the world, too, where I feel loved. When I painted that rock that I entitled The Great Masturbator, I did nothing more than render homage to one of the promontories of my kingdom, and my painting was a hymn to one of the jewels of my crown.”
To get to “The Great Masturbator” Pascual had to take us through a Club Med, but now the area is included in Cap de Creus Natural park.
I was surprised when I saw the rock, it was smaller than I imagined. There were also pieces of the same type of rock all around the area and I picked up several small pieces. When I got back to the Museum, I gave each of the staff members a piece of “The Great Masturbator”. They asked how I got the pieces and you should have seen their faces when I told them, “I took a hammer with me and just chipped them off!”
