 The museum façade is topped by a series of giant eggs. | |
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| Established | 28 September 1974 (1974-09-28) |
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| Coordinates | 42°16′05″N2°57′34″E / 42.26806°N 2.95944°E /42.26806; 2.95944 |
| Type | Art museum |
| Website | www |
TheDalí Theatre and Museum (Catalan:Teatre-Museu Dalí,IPA:[teˈatɾəmuˈzɛwðəˈli];Spanish:Teatro-Museo Dalí) is a museum dedicated to the artistSalvador Dalí in his home town ofFigueres, inCatalonia,Spain. Salvador Dalí lived there from 1984 to 1989, and is buried in a crypt below the stage. The museum received 1,368,755 visitors in 2016.[1]
I want my museum to be a single block, a labyrinth, a great surrealist object. It will be [a] totally theatrical museum. The people who come to see it will leave with the sensation of having had a theatrical dream.
— Salvador Dalí, fromThe Dalí Theatre-Museum[2]
The heart of the museum is the town's theatre that Dalí knew as a child. It was where one of the first public exhibitions of young Dalí's art was shown. The old theatre was burned during theSpanish Civil War and remained in a state of ruin. In 1960, Dalí and the mayor of Figueres decided to rebuild it as a museum dedicated to the town's most famous son.[2]: 4 In 1968, the city council approved the plan, and construction began the following year.[2]: 4 The architects were Joaquim de Ros i Ramis and Alexandre Bonaterra.[3]: 152 The museum opened on September 28, 1974,[2]: 4 [4] and it expanded through the mid-1980s. The museum now includes buildings and courtyards adjacent to the old theatre.
The museum displays the single largest and most diverse collection of works by Salvador Dalí, the core of which was from the artist's personal collection. In addition to Dalí paintings from all decades of his career, there are Dalí sculptures, three-dimensionalcollages, mechanical devices, and other curiosities from Dalí's imagination. A highlight is a three-dimensionalanamorphic living-room installation with aMae West Lips Sofa, a custom sofa that looks like the face ofMae West when viewed from a certain spot.[3]: 156 [2]: 28
The museum also houses a small selection of works by other artists collected by Dalí, ranging fromEl Greco andBougereau toMarcel Duchamp andJohn de Andrea,[2]: 35 In accordance with Dalí's specific request, a second-floor gallery is devoted to the work of his friend and fellowCatalan artistAntoni Pitxot, who also became director of the museum after Dalí's death.[2]
A glassgeodesic dome cupola crowns the stage of the old theatre, and Dalí is buried in acrypt below the stage floor.[2]: 19 The space formerly occupied by the audience has been transformed into a courtyard open to the sky, withDionysian nude figurines standing in the old balcony windows.[2]: 12–17 A Dalí installation inside a full-sized car, inspired byRainy Taxi (1938), is parked near the centre of the space.[2]: 12–15
The Dalí Theatre and Museum holds the largest collection of major works by Dalí in a single location. Some of the most important exhibited works arePort Alguer (1924),The Spectre of Sex-appeal (1932),Soft self-portrait with grilled bacon (1941),Poetry of America—the Cosmic Athletes (1943),Galarina (1944–45),Basket of Bread (1945),Leda Atomica (1949),Galatea of the Spheres (1952),Crist de la Tramuntana (1968),[3]: 154 andDalí Seen from the Back Painting Gala from the Back Eternalised by Six Virtual Corneas Provisionally Reflected by Six Real Mirrors (1972-73).
There is also a set of works created by the artist expressly for the Museum, including theMae West room, thePalace of the Wind room, theMonument toFrancesc Pujols, and theCadillac plujós.
A collection ofholographic art by Dalí, and a collection ofjewellery he designed are on display. Another room contains abathtub and a side table with an open drawer and a lamp, all of which Dalí had installed upside-down on the ceiling.[2]: 31
An extension to the museum building contains a room dedicated tooptical illusions,stereographs, andanamorphic art created by Dalí. The artist's final works, including his last oil painting,The Swallow's Tail (1983),[2]: 42 are on display here.
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