A monster masterpiece lives in Puerto Banus

THE iconic sculpture was created by master of surrealism, Salvador Dali

BASED on an etching published 500 years ago in 1515 by the German artist Albrecht Dürer, the statue ‘Rinoceronte vestido con puntillas’ (Rhinoceros dressed in lace) by the master of surrealism, Spain’s own Salvador Dali, is on permanent display at the entrance to Puerto Banus on the Costa del Sol.

Donated to the town by a businessman to commemorate the centenary of Dali’s birth, the three-ton statue was created in the 1950s following completion of his film about a ‘lacemaker and the rhinoceros’.

As is to be expected with any Dali creation, the sculpture has a number of meanings. However, apart from recognising the perfection of Dürer’s work, it refers to sex in the form of the rhino’s horn, femininity is represented by lace, and power signified by his favourite food, the sea urchin, which appears in many of Dali’s works as a symbol of perfect creation.

According to Dali, the way to create perfect art was for the artist to eat 36 sea urchins one or two days before the full moon, then after a long siesta, he should sit before a blank canvas until it got too dark to see.