DALÍ THEATRE-MUSEUM
WEBSITE: WWW.SALVADOR-DALI.ORG
LOCATION: PLAÇA GALA I SALVADOR DALÍ, 5, 17600 FIGUERES, GIRONA
NEAREST AIRPORTS: GIRONA AIRPORT, 1 HOUR 25 MINUTES DRIVE
When first I saw the title of the Dalí Theatre-Museum, I assumed it was a Spanishism, something thats not quite translatable to English. On visiting the museum I realised that the title was given because it was exactly that: a theatre. Or maybe spectacle would have been more apt. Whatever the word, Dalí shied away from the ‘shuffle-past-my-painting’ format and instead made an experience for visitors. Like stepping into one of his paintings, the museum is Surreal and, well, theatrical.
Figueres isn’t a very nice town (sorry Figueres!). With some utterly enchanting towns to visit in the area of Costa Brava, there really is little reason to go. Or at least there was little reason to go. Dalí was born in Figueres and at the beginning of the 60’s, Ramon Guardiola, the town’s mayor, on realising that they do not have a painting by their most famous citizen in their local museum, asked Dalí to donate one to the town. Dalí quickly replied that he wont give a single work but an entire museum.
The artist treated the museum as one single Surrealist art object. Inaugurated in 1974 on the remains of the former Municipal Theatre of Figueres (yes, the other reason for the world ‘Theatre’, and is considered to be the last great work of Salvador Dalí. Everything in it was conceived and designed by the artist so as to offer visitors a real experience and walk through the creative mind of this great artist.
It is a great way to discover the works of Dalí with a route around the rooms that allows visitors to capture his first artistic experiences, Surrealism, Nuclear Mysticism (with the advent of the atom bomb) and his passion for science, up to his final works, including the museum itself. Though it might seem a bit dated to audiences accustomed to high tech solutions, with some displays that rely on perspective, one can still really appreciate that he was entirely ahead of his time with ‘experiential art’ like Face of Mae West Which Can Be Used as an Apartment (Pictured).
There are other works there, on the other hand, that make one really wonder how on earth he didn’t use a computer! Such as with Apparition of the Figure of Vermeer on the Face of Abraham Lincoln (pictured) where one sees a picture of a nude but if you squint, you will see the face of Lincoln, or the slightly disturbing Galatea of the Spheres (pictured).
This sleepy little town (population 50,000) is the host of the 3rd most visited museum in Spain after Reina Sofia and Prado in Madrid (population 7 million). It draws almost 2 million visitors annually, more than the much celebrated Guggenheim in Bilbao. The exterior of the building, which looks like a chocolate cake topped with white cream eggs, disrupts the unremarkable surroundings. If you go, make sure you also visit his house, Casa Dalí, where you can discover more about the man, and Castle of Púbol which was the residence he built for his beloved wife Gala.
