Current Status
The painting now hangs in the Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida which provides a permanent home for the collection of A. Reynolds Morse & Eleanor R. Morse.
In the bottom center of the painting, on the beach a few steps in front of Columbus, is the bumpy and pockmarked brown sphere of a sea urchin with a curious halo-like ring around it. A story is told that Morse objected to this object on artistic grounds, and suggested that Dalí paint over it. Dalí insisted that it was an important element in the painting, and that Morse needed to contemplate it to understand. Morse reluctantly agreed, but never did think much about the sea urchin until 10 years later, when he was watching the Apollo 11 Moon landing on television, and he came to a sudden realization. He immediately telephoned Dalí to excitedly tell him that he now understood that the sea urchin represented other planets that young America would explore in the tradition of Columbus. Dalí replied curtly, "Yes, of course. It took you this long to figure it out? Incredible! Now I must get back to work", and hung up on Morse.
Read more about this topic: The Discovery Of America By Christopher Columbus
Famous quotes containing the words current and/or status:
“It is not however, adulthood itself, but parenthood that forms the glass shroud of memory. For there is an interesting quirk in the memory of women. At 30, women see their adolescence quite clearly. At 30 a woman’s adolescence remains a facet fitting into her current self.... At 40, however, memories of adolescence are blurred. Women of this age look much more to their earlier childhood for memories of themselves and of their mothers. This links up to her typical parenting phase.”
—Terri Apter (20th century)
“[In early adolescence] she becomes acutely aware of herself as a being perceived by others, judged by others, though she herself is the harshest judge, quick to list her physical flaws, quick to undervalue and under-rate herself not only in terms of physical appearance but across a wide range of talents, capacities and even social status, whereas boys of the same age will cite their abilities, their talents and their social status pretty accurately.”
—Terri Apter (20th century)