Inspiration From Artist Wk 105 Early Spring .

But - you have to be comfortable with it: we'll all understand that. 

And now, as they say, for something completely different.  Salvador Dali's 'The First Day of Spring'.  I cannot pretend I understand or appreciate it in anyway what-so-ever.   PS. Yes Robert, it does challenge me and even gives me a little discomfort, so it must be art.

Paul Beckingham.  Beautiful lighting.

Tony - not a lot of doubt that Dalí is "art" - least of all in his mind.  But I think he took a joke for a very long walk, and having found how much it paid, stuck with it.  Generally - apart from a superb drawing of Harpo Marx - I found his work more irritating than challenging - but then, surrealism in all its form has never engaged me; I knew a writer who started out as a conscious surrealist - one of his books was illustrated with the René Magritte painting of a train emerging from a fireplace: I know you have literary interests, so you might like to look out for it - The Railway Accident and Other Stories, by Edward Upward.  It's interesting or ironic that he abandoned surrealism as, in so many words, a passing plaything: and the critics, besotted with the lure of the new, thought he'd betrayed them, and deserted him. I can't say that Dalí was insincere or hypocritical in hanging on to his foremost source of profit - maybe that really was what he most wanted to do, and the money was a rather pleasing side issue; but I have my suspicions.... technically, he was a genius; he had a wonderful touch with brush and charcoal -- indeed, technically I think he was probably superior to Picasso, though that's a big claim to make.  I do think there was a big hole where we normally expect the soul to sit, increasingly reflected in his politics and the way he combined his political outlook with Roman Catholicism.  He always advanced in his mastery of colour and form - in theme, meaning, "heart", on the other hand....  well, this is just a long-winded way of saying I don't like him, as a man or an artist.  Upward, who was a friend of mine, advanced too - but not in the direction of profit: some can run for the money and assuage any feelings of guilt they might have (or might not have), others are incapable of doing that - as to which one admires.... well, I can see the lure of the glittering prizes!  And if they were in my reach - I'd probably grab 'em.   I might feel more warmly disposed towards Salvador if Spring hadn't turned distinctly wintry down here, the daffodils giving serious consideration to whether it was really wise to emerge so soon.   Anyway, enough of all that disappearing down rabbit-holes and finding oneself in a labyrinth - some wonderful paintings have featured in this thread, not least the last one.