Dali Faire!

When one thinks of savoir faire in the art world, you cannot go past Salvador Dali. In everything he did he had immense personal style and savoir faire, which even extended down to his choice of pets. One of his favourites was an ocelot named Babou which travelled everywhere with him, whether across the Atlantic or out to dinner.

The below photo shows Dali and his private secretary Captain Moore in his cabin aboard the SS France prior to arrival in New York with Babou. This is full of surrealism and savoir faire, and would have appealed to Dali immensely.

An amusing story is how Dali with ocelot in tow were dining in a fashionable New York restaurant where Dali had tethered the animal to a leg of the table he was seated at while having dinner. A woman passed Dali and said ocelot and was horror stricken at the fact that a ‘wild animal’ was allowed in the restaurant.

"What is that?" she cried. "It's only a cat," Dali explained disdainfully. "I've painted it over with an op-art design." Looking again, (and recognising Dali) the woman sighed with relief. "I can see now that's what it is," she said. "At first I thought it was a real ocelot."