Spanish Tales. Figueres
Tue Feb 27 2007

Ok, so it was out last day in Catalonia and we’ve already spend half of it enjoying Girona. There was one last place I was very keen to see, since I’ve read a lot about it before our travel. In half-hour of train trip from Girona there is a small town of Figueres. Its fame is totally based on yet another crazy Catalonian artist. (It must be something in the air?!) We went to Figueres to see the Salvador Dalí Theatre-Museum.

Now this is something totally bizarre. Somewhat surreal object by itself. It was build on the ruins of local theatre by Salvador Dali himself. He’s also donated lots of his works to the museum. If you are not a fan of Dali, now is a good time to click away. But I can assure you, even if you are not a fan, this place can still impress you. Everything in it was designed by the artist and it is a real experience of getting inside his rather unique world. Even the building itself strikes you at first sight with…eggs  on a roof top and bread loaves stuck to the walls…literally. Designed by Salvador himself, expressing his obsession with what exactly?...breadmaking?... In any way – fascinating. 

Dali Museum-Theatre


There are different collections of his works there. Some very familiar, others – I’ve never seen before. There were certain aspects I never knew about Dali’s art and from this point our visit was very cognitive. I like Dali. He is a weird man and a mad man. And remarkable in his own ways. His paintings make me feel as if he used to see the joints of “connections” between our world and the other world and drew them. Very odd…he has also experimented with holographic images and with 3D paintings…

Myers Room - the furniture positioned in such a way that when you look from a podium by one of the walls, you see a face


As you enter the Museum, you immediately confronted with the Rainy Cadillac -a “purpose-built” sculpture, specifically designed by Dali for this Museum. A bizarre creation comprised from a Cadillac auto full of money, a palm tree with a trunk made from car tires and with a ship on a top, dripping blue…in front of a car proudly stands some sumptuous naked lady... I know, it doesn’t make any sense what I write about it. But trust me – it didn’t make sense when I saw it either. 

Rainy Cadillac


Among all other things I want to mention about the essence of Dali’s wife, Gala, in most of his works. He must’ve loved her infinitely, as her presence felt everywhere…she was his only love , his only muse, his delusion, his talisman…you can see it from his paintings, he just couldn’t get enough of her…

Dali buried right in the very same museum and his grave is somewhat same bizarre as the museum, as his life, as Dali himself. We’ve been looking at the collection of some golden things in the centre of the museum and suddenly found this crypt with his grave. No signs, tourist guides, nothing at all…as if his grave “accidentally happened” on our way through his art…I’ve found a quote of Salvador Dali, which I think will be totally adequate in this entry about him: 

There are some days when I think I'm going to die from an overdose of satisfaction. [Salvador Dali]

...and this is the end of the Spanish Tales...thank you for joining me :-)
3 Comments
  • From:
    Pragmatist (Legacy)
    On:
    Tue Feb 27 2007
    Ah, well...fun while it lasted.

    Where/when is your next trip? Wish you had had more time with Dali.

    Shalom
  • From:
    Razzenne (Legacy)
    On:
    Wed Feb 28 2007
    beautiful svetlana

    hello my friend
    I can still appreciate all art my several years of auditing the same art history course that spanned 35000 years has taught me that so ofcourse I still appreciate dali but I no longer find him that intriguing

    his trip into the subconscious mind is still too literal for me
    those eggs on the museum?are hilarious yes it must represent new beginnings new creations and why not put them on top of a building lol that makes a statement in itself we have our own social conventions of where everything goes they are man made rules

    I love that sculpture above the lips for me it represents from what I can see of it a twisted torso smooth and sleek and modernized the vessel of the light of the spirit
    quite beautiful I think

    I love this work and appreciate it but once more for me I want more abstraction lol
    I want to go from the egg of creation to deeper levels of the mind to the feeling energy of creation
    I wanna dig deeper until there is no where else to go lol

    beautiful presentation thankyou
  • From:
    Windchimes (Legacy)
    On:
    Mon Mar 05 2007
    of all the pics youpsoted. i am attracted most to that red building with eggs (?) on top. i loved it.

    :)