I dream of two knights. One is naked and so is the other. They are ready to enter two absolutely symmetrical streets. Their horses, lifting the same leg, each enter their respective street, but the one street is flooded by a light that is poignant with objectivity, while the other is limpid, as in Raphael's Marriage of the Virgin, and in the distance it is even more crystalline.

Suddenly one of the streets is filled by a dim mist that gradually thickens till it forms an impenetrable leaden abyss.

Both knights are Dali. One belongs to [his wife] Gala; the other is the one who would not have known her.

Why split into two nude knights? Well, the nudity makes instant sense. Asked "Are you a man or a mouse?" Dalí would blurt "A mouth!" The man was manic. No filter, censor, or armor. Why a knight? Dalí is Spanish, not Northern European; rather than exploring notions of Arthurian codes of honor, what comes to mind is Don Quixote--a madman on a quest. Sound like anyone?

I looked up Raphael's Marriage of the Virgin (1504) on the web. To my surprise, half the photos were twinned--a dark muddy rather static version, and a livelier, lighter version. Not Raphael refining his vision: the muddy lefthand one is his teacher, Pietro Perugino, painted for a church in 1504. Raphael, just 21, deliberately echoed yet improved on his master's best, a few months later. A declaration of genius--and I'm sure Dalí knew of it.

This adds a layer to Dalí's dream; the "leaden" alternative, if he hadn't met Gala, is not just his love life, but his art; he credits her with driving or guiding him to genius. To use his own word.

SOURCE: Diary of a Genius by the ever-modest Salvador Dalí, p.44

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