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 I first saw the title of the Dalí Theatre Museum, I assumed it was a Spanishism, something not quite translatable into English. On visiting the museum, I realized that the title was given because it was exactly that: a theatre. Or perhaps "spectacle" would have been more appropriate. Whatever the word, Dalí avoided the traditional “shuffle past my painting” format and instead created an experience for visitors. Like stepping into one of his paintings, the museum is surreal and, well, theatrical.
Figueres is not a particularly nice town (sorry, Figueres!). With some truly enchanting towns to visit in the Costa Brava region, there really was little reason to go. Or at least, there used to be little reason. Dalí was born in Figueres, and at the beginning of the 1960s, Ramon Guardiola, the town’s mayor, realised that the local museum did not own a single painting by its most famous citizen. He asked Dalí to donate one to the town. Dalí promptly replied that he would not give a single work, but an entire museum.
The artist treated the museum as a single surrealist art object. Inaugurated in 1974 on the remains of the former Municipal Theatre of Figueres (yes, another reason for the word “Theatre”), it is considered to be the last great work of Salvador Dalí. Everything within it was conceived and designed by the artist in order to offer visitors a genuine experience and a walk through the creative mind of this remarkable figure.
It is a wonderful way to explore Dalí’s works, with a route through the rooms that allows visitors to witness his early artistic ventures, surrealism, nuclear mysticism (inspired by the advent of the atom bomb), and his passion for science, up to his final works, including the museum itself. Though it may appear slightly dated to audiences accustomed to high-tech installations, with some displays relying on perspective, one can still clearly see that he was far ahead of his time in creating ‘experiential art’ such as Face of Mae West Which Can Be Used as an Apartment (pictured).
There are other works, however, that make one genuinely wonder how he managed without using a computer. Take, for example, Apparition of the Figure of Vermeer on the Face of Abraham Lincoln (pictured), where you see a nude figure but, if you squint, you will also see the face of Lincoln—or the slightly unsettling Galatea of the Spheres (pictured).
This sleepy little town (population 50,000) is home to the third most visited museum in Spain, after the Reina Sofía and the Prado in Madrid (population seven million). It draws almost two million visitors annually, more than the much-celebrated Guggenheim in Bilbao. The exterior of the building, which resembles a chocolate cake topped with white cream eggs, disrupts its otherwise unremarkable surroundings. If you go, make sure you also visit his house, Casa Dalí, to discover more about the man, and the Castle of Púbol, the residence he built for his beloved wife, Gala.
