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When the famed Chilean poet Pablo Neruda was in exile in the 1950s, he spent some time on the island of Capri in southern Italy.  His life there was depicted in my favorite Italian movie Il Postino.  Part of the movie was filmed on a nearby island Procida.

This movie has a sad ending, but there are many funny scenes that are so unforgettable that I can see them in my head.  One is that when Mario, a shy postman who delivers mail for Neruda, fell madly in love with Beatrice, a beautiful barmaid, he couldn't say anything to her.  So he asked 'Don Pablo' to write him a poem for Beatrice.

Neruda got furious, saying, "I don't even know her!  A poet needs to know the object of his inspiration.  I can't invent something out of nothing!"  Mario couldn't understand.  He reacted, frustrated, "If you make all this fuss over one poem, you're never going to win that Nobel Prize!"  Neruda, then, wanted Mario to pinch him and wake him from 'this nightmare.'

Poetry was Neruda's art and those words prove that he was a true artist.  Neruda later won the Nobel Prize in Literature.


Procida, Italy I

Click here for a larger image of "Procida, Italy I" painting.

Media: Original watercolor on paper
Image Size: 9.5 x 7.5 in.
Mat/Frame: Yes
Frame Size: 14 x 11 in..
Purchase: Sold