The flamboyant artist
> Salvador Dalí mesmerised the world with his eccentric personality and outpouring of surrealistic artworks
AGENIUS of the surrealism art, Salvador Dalí was a 20th century Spanish Catalan artist, illustrator, sculptor, author and filmmaker. He changed the world with his fabulous surrealist imagery and flamboyant personality.
There are three Dalí museums near Barcelona. The one in Figueres, which was created and designed by Dalí himself, houses the biggest collection of surrealist works of art in the world.
Figueres is about two hours north of Barcelona by car and you can also get to the Dalí museum by train or bus.
The museum is easily recognised by its orange façade with egg-like structures popping on top of it. It is a mind-blowing reservoir of the finest works of Dalí.
The museum, according to the local guide in the area, is actually the artist’s home and it features the most diverse collection of paintings and other creations by Dalí himself.
The building was first opened in 1974 after it was rebuilt from the ruins of the former Figueres municipal theatre after it was bombed in the civil war. This was also the place where he first exhibited his works to the public in 1919.
Dalí also created many new pieces for the museum, including the wondrous Mae West room, the Palace of the Wind room, Monument to Francesc Pujols and the magical ‘Rainy Cadillac’.
To enjoy the broad spectrum of works of Dalí from his early artistic experiences and creations through works dating from the last years of his life, one needs at least two hours to tour the place.
Noteworthy works are Port Alguer (1924), The Spectrum of Sex Appeal (1932), Soft Self-Portrait with Fried Bacon (1941), Poetry from America, the Cosmic Athletes (1943), Galarina (1944-1945), The Bread Basket (1945), Atomic Leda (1949) and Galatea of the Spheres (1952).
The museum also exhibits the Dalí Jewels, featuring a fabulous collection of 39 jewels in gold and precious stones with drawings and paintings made by Dalí between 1941 and 1970.
According to a local expert, Dalí’s best and most original work is generally regarded as being in the period after he first moved to Port Lligat on the Costa Brava with the love of his life, Gala.
It lasted until the beginning of the Spanish Civil War when he and Gala went into exile in New York.
The later decades were regarded by many as a recycling of old themes and a collection of often bizarre, huge and minutely-detailed works.
Dalí’s most famous painting is the Persistance of Memory, which hangs in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It has been there since 1934. The oil on canvas, measuring only 24cm by 33cm is also the most imitated painting.
From 1983, he was not able to paint any more because of Parkinson’s disease. In 1984, a fire broke out in Dalí’s bedroom – apparently from a short-circuit caused by sparks from his electrical nurse bell.
Dalí suffered severe burns to his leg and arms and after this incident, he was persuaded by friends to move to Torre Galatea to his Theatre Musuem in Figueres, where he became a recluse and was rarely seen until he died six years later.
Two tombs were prepared in the crypt of Gala Castle in Pubol, but Dalí’s deathbed wish was to be buried in the museum in Figueres, where he lies to this day.