Salvador Dalí Museum, Figueres, Catalonia, Spain 11/13

January 15, 2014

Salvador Dalí (1904-1989), the famous and colorful Catalan artist and writer, had very clear visions when he insisted that “his” museum should be in Figueres, the town of his birth. On the site of the former municipal theater, the Dalí Theatre-Museo was born. He had his creative hand in every detail of this venue. It is the largest surrealistic object in the world.

Upon entering into the courtyard, the first thing you see is a black Cadillac with a ship hanging above, dripping with water, and golden mannequins standing in many window niches. The museum houses a good representation of his work from different periods of his life. His exquisite drawing talent fascinated us, though we should not have been surprised, having seen some of his later works in St. Petersburg, Florida, the largest collection in the USA.

A separate museum houses his 1959 jewel collection that includes his famous ruby/pearl lips and the animated pulsing heart of love.

His creations were as eccentric as he was; mostly weird, forever challenging and exciting. You can like it or hate it or you can like and hate it. As he quotes in the jewel room: “Without an audience, without the presence of spectators, these jewels would not fulfill the function for which they came into being. The viewer then is the ultimate artist. His sight, heart, mind – fusing with and grasping with greater or lesser understanding the intent of the creator – gives them life.”

The experience was fascinatingly, liberating, inspiring us to follow our path of independent thinking and encouraged us to continue to do what is important to us without regard to “the norm”.

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: Salvador Dalí. If you look carefully, you can also spot a female face in the picture! Maybe it’s his Russian lover/wife Gala, a favorite subject of his.