At swim with Man Ray

SUMMER MEMORIES - SEBASTIAN GUINNESS'I SPEND PART of every summer in Cadaques on the Costa Brava, where my mother had a house. As a child I was in boarding school. During the holidays, my sister Daphne and I spent our days clambering all over the hillside and chugging around the coast in little boats. The rocks cut our feet and hands and in the water our feet were spiked by sea urchins.

“My mother first came to the village in 1949 and was very close to Salvador Dalí. She was a painter and my own love of art comes from her.

“When she first met Dalí he was presiding over a community that included Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray, and Niki de Saint Phalle, among others. Man Ray I remember well. He was very nice to me. My grandmother and I used to go swimming with Mrs Ray.

“Dalí’s court scene was extraordinary. I wasn’t allowed to meet him until I was a teenager. My parents claimed it was because he didn’t like children but I think they thought he would corrupt me. The first time we met, he called me his prince of Asturias and told the filthiest jokes that I could only half grasp.

“I learned to cook on beach fires that burned rosemary and thyme. We grilled lamb and sausages and picked wild mussels while the meat cooked. They were the best of all. We broiled them in an old pot with a little sea water, nothing fancy.

“Our house was a tiny, weenie place with no electricity. Water was always a problem. When I was a boy we had only one cistern. There were ship rules. Showers were quite a luxury.

“We grew tomatoes, watermelon, aubergine and lettuce. I continue to garden there and in Co Westmeath, where I’m growing kale, cabbage and potatoes. I like to relax there, surrounded by my chickens.

“When I lived in New York I loved summer in the city. In August, the place is dead, as all the families would escape the heat to go to the seaside, like in The Seven Year Itch. My wife Peggy would summer in the Hamptons, where I joined her at weekends. In Manhattan, I spent my mornings tracking down painting leads. Then I’d have a long lunch at Lucky Strike on Grand Street.

“I catted around with friends who were also left behind. It was all very innocent but there was a lot of art, books and rubbish talked.

“I still spend the summers chasing painting leads and am looking at artists to follow Perry Ogden’s Inspiration exhibition, which closes on July 31st.”

Inspiration, curated by Perry Ogden, is on show at the Sebastian Guinness Gallery, 18 Eustace Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2, 01-6792014, sebastianguinnessgallery.com

In conversation with Alanna Gallagher