Salvador Dali. Elephants
For example, surrealist Salvador Dali became famous for his love of exotic animals, for example, he was photographed with an ocelot and took an anteater for a walk. However, there was more staging and image maintenance than the great artist's real interest in keeping such unusual pets.
Salvador Dalí with an ocelot.
He bought the ocelot from some scoundrel and briefly gave it to his secretary John Moore. He got used to everything during 12 years of work with Dali, so he just started to take care of him, not thinking that he was dealing with a small, but still a real wild predator. Although sometimes it was not easy - once an ocelot, nicknamed Babu, spoilt a collection of antique prints and marked an expensive piano. But for Dali these expenses did not matter much, he earned enough, in full accordance with his talent and ability to provoke the public. It was for this purpose he several times walked with an anteater, which he simply took from the nearest zoo, favouring the world celebrity few could refuse.
Salvador Dali walking with an anteater.
Paul Klee was not so extravagant and kept ordinary cats at home, like many other artists. But all others drew them, admired their grace and independent character, and Paul Klee considered them his co-authors, sources of inspiration and peculiar muses. His author's trick was to put a few sharp scratches on the already finished drawing and cats coped with this task perfectly.
Paul Klee. A cat and a bird
It is known that once a cat came to Klee's already finished work and started scratching it. The artist's friends who saw this were outraged and wanted to chase the cat away, but Klee did not let them: "let him scratch, many years will pass and all art historians will wonder how I managed to achieve such an effect"..
Arkhip Kuindzhi. Moonlight Night on the Dnieper.
Artist Arkhip Kuindzhi's love for ordinary city birds - all kinds of pigeons, crows and sparrows was ridiculous. Having earned a large fortune on a successful trade in real estate and land plots Kuindzhi could unfold to the full. Every day he bought 10 kg of meat, dozens of French buns and oats, which can feed several horses and with all this goodness climbed to the roof of his house. There he fed the feathered brethren, examined them carefully, picked up and warmed up frozen and weakened birds in his rooms, and treated the sick.
Ivan Vladimirov. On the roof. A.I. Kuindzhi feeding pigeons
He even sincerely believed that the birds understood his speech, and called himself "the bird's chosen one". Of course, everyone around him perceived this as an oddity, caricatures were printed on Kuindzhi, and his wife said: "one day they will come for you and say: trouble Arkhip, a crow is freezing, it is necessary to save. You will drop everything and run to her, but they will tie you up and send you to the yellow house.
Pavel Scherbov. Feathered Patients. Kuindzhi on the roof of his own house (caricature)
But Kuindzhi was not crazy, and his love for birds, and in general for all the weak and disadvantaged was a consequence of his wonderful character and attitude to life. He sincerely believed in people and tried to make their lives better, donated huge sums to charity, and near his house there were queues of beggars, often real beggars, who knew that Quindzhi would not refuse.
Arkhip Kuindzhi. Night.
And how lacking now are such selfless, kind and immensely talented weirdos as Arkhip Kuindzhi.
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author of the article Mikhail Fedorin
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