Biography details
Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí , village artist,elephant owner in Spain
Born 1904-05-11 dead 1989-01-23 .
Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, 1st Marquess of Dalí of Púbol
In 1967, Air India wanted to treat its first class passengers to a similar memento. For this, it enlisted the help of none other than legendary Spanish surrealist painter Salvador Dalí, who designed a series of porcelain ashtrays for passengers.
Following Dalí’s request for a baby elephant as his payment for the ashtrays, Air India also opted to provide him with a trainer known as a Mahout .
The airline flew both the trainer and the elephant to Europe from Bangalore/Bengaluru. While Dalí was based in Spain at the time, the elephant’s journey by air only took it as far as the Swiss city of Geneva.
The elephant, which Dalí named Surus, lived with the painter until 1971, when he donated it to the Barcelona Zoo.
Jake Hardiman
About 800 ashtrays were made for Air India, inspired by Dalis painting "Swans rflecting elephants".