Figueres - a day trip inside the mind of Salvador Dalí

If you read my last blog post and thought that my week in Barçelona seemed to be missing a few days, well, you would be correct. One day was spent completely hungover with my roommates at the movies (watched Gone Girl in English with Spanish subtitles); and the other unaccounted day was spent going to Figueres, a town in Catalonia which has one major claim to fame - it is the hometown of the artistic genius Salavador Dalí. I recall as a child that one of my piano music books had his famous melting clocks painting ("The persistence of Memory") and being transfixed by it. This image stayed in my mind for many years, not because of any real intellectual understanding of the work, but because I loved that it was a like a dream made in a waking state. I was a kid that was prone to daydreaming and I was (and still am to some extent) able to lucid dream. Dreams fascinate me, and Dalí's work has always been a favourite of mine.

Below: "The persistence of Memory" as a tapestry in the Teatre Museu Dalí in Figueres.

When I was doing my research for places I wanted to see in Spain, I was delighted to read that I could go to Figueres as it was close to Barçelona and I could take in a whole museum of Dalí's works. Further, I was really interested to see the museum as a structure in itself - as the Teatre Museu Dalí was a former municipal theatre that suffered damage during the Spanish civil war before being burned down by Pro-Franco troops in 1939. Dalí took an interest in the building and invested much of his money into creating a building that was as surreal as the artworks inside. The Teatre opened in 1974 and includes works by Dalí, some of his students, and a notable surrealist called Antoni Pitxot. This museum is the second most visited art museum in Spain, after the Prado in Madrid.

My hostel roommate Brooke (also from Vancouver) and I headed out to Figueres on a Thursday morning, and we were happy to discover that our Eurail passes covered the train journey for the day. Alighting in Figueres two hours later, we were starving. Following the map to the main square, and then following my intuition, we can upon a tapas place that offered some of the best food I've had in Spain (which is saying a lot). The restaurant is called Lizarran, and they specialize in a form of tapas called pinchos, which loosely translates to "bites." They are pieces of bread with all manner of toppings and a toothpick holding the whole creation together. Pinchos are self-served from a glass case that runs the length of the bar's counter. You simply choose which pinchos you want, and when you are full the restaurant counts the number of toothpicks and charges you depending on the size of the toothpicks (usually €1.50 for a small toothpick, and €1.90/€2 for a long toothpick). The staff at Lizarran even rang a cowbell when they finished preparing fresh, hot pinchos and then circulated them among the diners. What a great experience. I highly recommend them!

Below: the selection of pinchos at Lizarran in Figueres. Yum!

After feeding our bellies, it was time to feast our eyes on the artworks at the Teatre Museu Dalí. Take a look at the entrance courtyard to the museum, it gives a flavour for what lies within:

One could spend probably a whole hour or longer just looking at the outside of this building. Here's another side of the Teatre that is notable for its "eggs" - a symbol that Dalí was fond of as it represents transformation and birth.

Upon entering the museum proper, one is assaulted with an intense sculpture called "Rainy Day Taxi," a modern statue so complex and huge, it takes centre stage in the inner courtyard. There are even mannequin people inside the taxi. It was not possible to capture the whole sculpture within one camera shot. There's actually a boat suspended atop the column of rubber tires, with "water" dripping from the bottom of the boat. There is also a bust of a woman within the topmost tire (also not shown). I recommend googling this statue if you want to see the thing in its entirety.

 

The museum is semi-circular with the inner courtyard visible from the windows of each level of the building. It was really interesting to be able to see the statue from many viewpoints. Brooke and I started our tour by taking in the many ink sketches that Dalí created in the 1960's and 70's. Most of these works were not identified with placards, but it was nice to take in the work without focusing on its title instead of the work itself. Here's one of my favourites of this type of art that I saw that day:

In the main atrium of the museum, there is a huge (or I should say colossal) painting that takes up an entire wall and faces the "Rainy Day Taxi." It also wasn't identified by a placard, but it was impressive to look at, and stand next to. Look at how tiny I am (bottom centre) next to this painting, and it will give you a clue to the artwork's actual size:

One of the most interesting "pieces" that we saw was the spatial interpretation of "Mae West cum Apartment." Bear with me for a moment and try to picture this: to view the installation, one must climb up a short flight of stairs and look through a lens that is suspended between the legs of an ornamental camel (the camel forms a kind of arch at the apex of the stairs, and has unnaturally long legs - another Dalí standard imagery device). Through the lens, you see objects that alone seem random and unrelated, but come together to form a portrait of Mae West. The original painting is on display in Chicago, this spatial interpretation was completed by the archetech Oscar Tusquets Blanca.

In my mind, the masterpiece of the whole museum is the ceiling fresco in the Wind Palace Room. I was unable to capture the entire ceiling, but here's my best attempt:

Brooke and I stared up at this fresco for a solid ten minutes. There's so much going on in the painting, and the saturation of the colours are really something to behold. I'm not sure what the "official" interpretation of the fresco is, but to me I think it symbolizes the shared dream state of Dalí (figure on the right, easily identified by his outrageous mustache) and his wife Gala (woman on the left, and who was in many of Dalí's works). Whatever the meaning, the painting is phenomenal.

The painting of Antoni Pitxot that captured my attention the most was this one (also not identified with a placard). I love his use of rocklike formations to create human forms, including reflections. All of his exhibited works are of a similar style, but this one really stood out.

The €12 entry fee (adult) to the museum also included entry into the Dalí-Joies (or jewels). In this exhibit, Dalí uses precious and semi-precious materials to create wearable and sculptural pieces that are sometimes bizarre and sometimes stunning to behold. To gain access to the exhibit, you leave the main museum, go around the corner, and into a dark room where sketches are places next to all the pieces which are kept behind glass. Dalí himself thought that using precious materials like gold, silver, rubies etc shouldn't be limited to jewellers, that these materials could be used to form interesting (and at times arresting) art pieces. Here is his somewhat creepy but fascinating brooch which is comprised of rubies and pearls:

After spending about four hours or so in the museum, our brains were "full" and we headed down to La Rambla of Figueres to locate Dalí's self-portrait on the ground. It's amazing that his brain enabled him to draw reflections of things that could be righted by a convex surface. There were a small sample of these in the museum, but my favourite is his self-portrait on the street. Definitely a man with genius. 

The four hours of train was worth the visit to this town and the museum. I don't think I've ever had a unique artistic experience quite like this one! It was also good to get outside Barçelona and see another town within Catalonia. A big thank you to Brooke who came with me, it's always more fun to share this kind of day trip adventure.