Matthew Carey

Wade does a lot of pointillist deep diving in the Yale archives, seeking to reexamine both the Stein-Toklas partnership and the value of Stein’s writing. What becomes abundantly clear is that Toklas was far more than the silent sycophantic partner. She was a power in her own right, brainy and perceptive, given to quick opinions (she seems to have... See more

it is worth holding close to our hearts the words of the Czech playwright and dissident Václav Havel. They moved me when I first read them, in the early 1990s, when so much was so different, and I have cited them several times since, but they hold more meaning now than ever.

“I have few illusions,” Havel wrote. “But I feel a responsibility to work... See more

The Surreal World of Salvador Dalí

Genius or madman? A new exhibition may help you decide

Stanley Meisler

April 2005

Portrait of Salvador Dalí, Paris Carl Van Vechten

Salvador Dalí spent much of his life promoting himself and shocking the world. He relished courting the masses, and he was probably better known, especially in the United States, than... See more

When Your Muse Is Also a Demonic Dominatrix

By Nina-Sophia Miralles

July 10, 2018

Arts & Culture

On Salvador Dalí’s wife, Gala.

When Salvador Dalí’s wife, Gala, died in 1982, the first person outside of his household to hear the news was Juan Carlos, the king of Spain. Dalí telephoned the reigning monarch himself, and for once, this was not an act of... See more

One day during Salvador Dalí’s first visit to New York City in 1934, he woke “at six in the morning ... after a long dream involving eroticism and lions.” He was surprised by the insistence of the lions’ roars—the savage cries of his dreams, which were so different than what he expected in a “modern and mechanical” city. Reading this, I thought of... See more