| La Gare de Perpignan | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Salvador Dalí |
| Year | c. 1965 |
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 296 cm × 406 cm (117 in × 160 in) |
| Location | Museum Ludwig,Cologne |
La Gare de Perpignan (Perpignan Train Station also known asPop-Op-Yes-Yes-Pompier[1]) is a c. 1965 large-scale oil on canvas painting by theSpanishsurrealistSalvador Dalí, on display in theMuseum Ludwig inCologne.[2]
Therailway station of theFrench city ofPerpignan, near the border withSpain, held special significance for Dalí, who had proclaimed it to be the "Center of the Universe" after experiencing a vision ofcosmogonicecstasy there in 1963.[3]
The sacrifice of the son is imaged in the form ofChrist on the Cross, with hiscrown of thorns, floating in the center of the composition. The bleeding wound of Christ is associated with the farmer's fork (on the right) thrust into the ground (as a fertility ritual). Dalí is represented twice in the vertical axis: he appears in the light at the center of the image, seen from below, floating with arms spread, and again at the top of the painting. On the bottom of the painting lies a calm sea with a boat, an ancient symbol of the passage from life to death, reinforcing the theme of Christ's sacrifice. Above the sea, a woman seen from the back watches these scenes, immobile, and recalling the helplessness of man facing death, symbolized not only by the bloody wounds of Christ, but also by Dalí, who, spread-eagled, seems to fall into nothingness.
At the top center of the painting, aflat wagon carrying a specializedtrailer comes out of nowhere (characteristic of Surrealism), and reminds one of the central themes of the painting, therailway station of Perpignan in France, near the Spanish border in thePyrenees. The left side of the painting shows embodiment of positive values (the couple on the bags of wheat represent labor, and the man in a meditative pose embodies respect), while on the right of the image are embodied sins and suffering (the man and woman representing lust, and the woman mourning). The two figures flanking the far left and right sides are taken fromThe Angelus, a well-known pious painting by the French artistJean-François Millet.[4][5][6][7]
Around the turn of the millennium, police investigating theGare de Perpignan murders, were short of other fruitful lines of inquiry, so were speculating whether the serial killer was inspired by the tortured visions of Dalí, in particular La Gare de Perpignan with the sinful image on the right of a man and woman representing lust.[8] This line of inquiry was dramatised in the French true crime television series,the Lost Station Girls, released in 2025.
