St. Narcissus of the Flies

St. Narcissus of the Flies was persecuted by Diocletian, and Dali respected traditional iconography. St. Narcissus is shown with mitre and staff, and there is a large symbolic fly on his chasuble.

Dali was fascinated by insects since his childhood. The world of flies, bees and other invertebrates was a fundamental theme or a disturbing element in many of his works: paintings, drawings, sculptures and jewelry, in which logic explains the dream.

In "Diary of a Genius" Dali wrote that flies "are the muses of the Mediterranean sea". They inspired the Greek philosophers who whiled away the hot hours of the day lying in the sun, covered in flies.

The portentous event of 1285 is renowned. When foreign troops invaded the city of Gerona and desecrated the tomb where St. Narcissus lay buried after his martyrdom of 307 A.D., a strange swarm of flies and other flying insects emerged from the tomb and attacked the soldiers, who fled terrified from Gerona, decimated by the voracious insects defending the Saint's body.