All his life, Dali dreamed of having his own art gallery where his works would be on public display. Today, the Salvador Dali Museum in Figueres is second only to the great Prado in terms of the number of visitors in Spain.
History of the Dali Theatre Museum
Salvador Dali – the most famous Spanish artist, his amazing, mystical, surrealistic paintings still excite the minds of experts and simply lovers of painting, and remain a mystery to all.
Dali created and developed a whole direction in modern painting – surrealism, it remains a favorite and in demand even today. He showed the audience his dreams and fantasies, made them love and admire them.
He often painted his wife and muse, the Russian beauty Gala, on his canvases. Their love for the public was a mixture of tabloid gossip and unusually pure and romantic images in pictures.
In the world, including. In Spain, there are many Dali museums, but none can compete with the museum in Figueres, the artist’s homeland. After all, this museum was conceived, designed and built personally by Salvador Dali.
The building of the future Dali Museum was built in the mid-19th century, originally housed the city theater. And in this theater, the works of the young Dali, who had just turned 14, were exhibited for the first time.
In the late 1930s, during the Spanish Civil War, the theater was destroyed and then burned down by Spanish guardsmen. In the early 1960s, Dali suggested to the mayor of Figueres that the theater be restored and a museum of his paintings be established there.
Salvador initially offered to house reproductions of paintings in the museum, but Spain’s art ministry refused to finance the construction, fearing that the museum would not pay off. But then the artist agreed to exhibit several originals in the museum. Finally, for Salvador Dali’s 70th birthday, the museum opened.
The project of the future museum was compiled by the famous artist himself, he made sketches, drawings, offered his own ideas. And the ideas were implemented by first-class Catalan architects and designers.
It’s a cross between gothic and pop art. Built on the ashes of the Salvador Dali Museum immediately became a business card and the main attraction of the small town of Figueres.
Museum interiors
Much of the interior decoration was done by Dali himself. He personally painted the walls of the halls where his paintings are on display today. I decorated the rooms myself, where the paintings are lined up in three dimensions.
Many of the interior designs in the museum seem to have descended from the artist’s paintings and materialized. Here you will see walls made of glass, behind which there is nothing, corridors that suddenly end in dead ends, etc.
Guests of the Dali Museum find themselves in another dimension or space, they involuntarily have the illusion of being in another, surreal world. This is how Dali shows his viewers his own world.
In the Dali Museum, romantic illusion and fiction collided with harsh reality and materialism, resulting in surrealism. The artist did everything to make his fans feel like Dali themselves, with his dreams and hallucinations.
There are paintings in which you can see different subjects and images from a certain angle, many amazing wonders, they are so adored by fans of the work of this unique artist.
Exhibits at the Salvador Dali Theater and Museum
The collection of the Dali Museum in Figueres has more than a thousand and a half pieces, including many original paintings and those painted in collaboration with other artists. Here is the richest collection of paintings of the master.
Visitors are very interested in Dali’s own collection, which he bequeathed to the museum. You can see everything from El Greco’s works to Paco Rabanne’s dresses. The sculptures by Dali are no less interesting.
Jewelry Collection
True fans of Salvador Dali are willing to spend hours circling the halls where his world-famous works are on display. Others are eager to see jewelry made by Spain’s finest craftsmen based on the artist’s sketches.
These are true masterpieces by master jewelers inspired by Dali’s work. They adorned their work with the finest gemstones. The viewer realizes that even today there are many artists in Spain who are not indifferent to surrealism.
Dali’s grave
Dali willed to be buried in this museum. He himself drew a sketch of the sarcophagus where his mortal body would lie after death. He made this decision, imitating the great architect Antonio Gaudi.
Dali decided that he should rest in the world he had created, not in the fake “real” human world. The sarcophagus with his embalmed remains rests today in the museum, under the huge dome of the tower.
Museum tours
To get to the Salvador Dali Museum in Figueres, you can take a cab or rent a car in Barcelona and from there travel along the coast to the northeast. Along the way be sure to visit the Dali Museum in Cadaques and the castle of Pubol.
Such an excursion is quite expensive. A visit to the theater-museum alone will cost a tour group of five people €390. On the way you can still turn and look at the local oyster farms, there and have lunch.
Rules of Attendance
The administration strictly forbids it:
- Under no circumstances do not come to the museum with drinks and food, or you will simply be put out.
- You can’t come here with animals, they can cause damage to the paintings.
- Do not touch paintings, sculptures, or other artifacts with your hands.
- At the entrance to the museum turn in all bags, bags, strollers, umbrellas.
- It is allowed to take photos and videos in the museum, but without using a flash.
Ticket prices and opening hours at the Salvador Dali Museum Theater
All necessary organizational information is available on the official website of the Salvador Dali Museum at: www.salvador-dali.org. There is no Russian-language version, unfortunately, but you can read the English or French version.
The cost of a ticket to the Salvador Dali Museum in Figueres:
- for adults – €14;
- For children up to 8 years old – €0;
- for students – €10;
- for pensioners – €10;
- Night show at the museum – €14.
The museum is open daily, without holidays and weekends:
- In High Season – from 09:00 to 20:00;
- In the Low Season – from 10:30 to 18:00.
How to get to the museum?
The fastest, most convenient and cheapest way is to take the local train or the high-speed train (€30 round trip), travel time is about 50 minutes. Look carefully at the train schedule, so as not to make a mistake.
Location on the map (interactive) and address of the Dali Museum
If you are driving from Barcelona, the road to Figueres goes to the northeast along the Mediterranean coast through the town of Girona, the distance from Barcelona to Figueres is about 130 km. The transportation infrastructure here is excellent.
If you want to go to Figueres directly from Barcelona El Prat Airport, there is a very active bus service. A one-way bus ticket costs €19, but the travel time is about 2 hours due to stops in resort towns.
If you are vacationing on the Costa Dorada, the easiest way is to take the train to Barcelona and from there take the high-speed train or the train to Figueres. It’s easy to get around in the city without even knowing the language.
The trip from Barcelona or Costa Dorada to Figueres by cab or rented car will cost several orders of magnitude more, but art requires sacrifice from its admirers, be prepared to part with money for the Salvador Dali Museum.
