Costa Brava, Spain

Dali’s Museum and Home

My day visiting Dali’s museum and house along the coast of Costa Brava was fascinating! I started out in Figures and had a couple hours to roam around the museum’s many room, instillations, and features. It is literally covered in art. The architecture is conducive to meandering along the rounded hallways and getting lost in Dali’s strange world of art. I was amazed at how many mediums and materials Dali used: paints, photographs, furniture, mirrors, inks, cars – it was all in Dali’s cathedral of art. I did enjoy his more complex instillations and the unusual features of the museum, but I was particularly drawn to his more “traditional” works of oil and paint. My favorite was a section dedicated to his concentration on rocks. Using small dots, and a myriad of pastel colors, I loved his use of color and the way he created compositions with the stones. I also loved the works that lay flat on a surface, with a reflective bottle right behind the piece of paper. The bottle would reflect a shape, such as a skull or horse, that Dali had created with butterflies, birds, and abstract shapes. I would have enjoyed to know more about what was behind the art, and more about Dali’s life, and I will make the effort to do so. Each floor of the Dali museum brought a new artistic surprise. Dali did not seem to have any inhibitions or barriers in expressing himself, and his genius is apparent in the way that there is always more to see in a painting, a new way of looking at it, or symbolism behind everything he did.

I also visited Dali’s house in Cadeques. It is incredible how he collected what some would consider junk to decorate his house in a way that was very beautiful and aesthetic. The white walls brought out the detail in the flowers he hung from his windows, the mannequins, figurines, brightly colored furniture and accessories he decorate his home with. This avant guard home on the beautiful coast seems like a perfect studio and haven for Dali. With windows looking out on the crystal waters of the Mediterranean, we saw his studio for painting and putting together his unusual sculptures.
My day in Costa Brava was dedicated to seeing Dali’s work and home. I am so glad I got the opportunity to see this eclectic and sometimes a little strange body of work, and where Dali created his pieces.