Empordaguia

Three equidistant points with the imprint of Dali form the famous “Dali Triangle.” If you wish to get to know the personality and works of this great painter, visit the three houses he lived in. Make sure you don’t miss any of the many details they offer.

I have restricted myself to decorating the ceilings of Pubol so that every time Gala looks up, she will see me in her sky.

 We set out in the Baix Empordà, a landscape of rolling hills sprinkled with medieval villages. One of these is Pubol, where Gala reigned. Dali wanted to crown Gala as queen of a castle: After a long search, the couple fell in love with Pubol. This 11^th C. castle is attached to the church and built around a patio and a shady garden that create the closed and mysterious atmosphere Gala desired. Dalí gave it to her with the promise only to go there if she invited him; this was seldom, and she only called him to decorate the place and paint trompe l'oeil. Once it was ready, she converted the castle into her exclusive domain where she celebrated unforgettable parties with her young lovers. We start the visit in the garden, guarded by two long-legged elephants with a crow perched on their rump. In the shadiest part is the swimming pool decorated with busts of Wagner; Galas would listen to his music while swimming. The interior of the castle reveals the art of the painter, and especially his propensity for surprising mise en scène. In the entrance, a trompe l'oeil invites us to enter an imaginary room through a door, which does not exist. On the first floor a glass table with ostrich legs allows you to spy on visitors entering. In the bedroom the bed is in the shape of a shell and guarded by large fish. There are endless surprises and, in the attic, a collection of Gala’s clothes, Gala’s Gala that includes designs by Christian Dior and Pierre Cardin as well as Salvador Dalí.

 Where if not in my hometown must my most extravagant and solid works endure?

 We drive on to Figueres, capital of the Alt Empordà and the Tramuntana. Here is the painter’s birthplace and the Dalí Theatre-Museum, one of the most visited in Spain. It stands where the municipal theatre used to be. This is where Dalí held his first exhibition, and he was baptized in the church next door. The museum shows a wide selection of works that follow the artistic trajectory of the artist, from early trials, impressionistic pieces, futuristic, cubistic, and surrealistic creations right up to his very latest works. A series of works created with the intention to be permanently shown in the museum stand out, such as the Mae West room, the Palace of the Wind, and the Rainy Cadillac. Dalí’s private collection can also be seen, including works by El Greco, Maria Fortuny, Modest Urgell, Ernest Meissonier, Marcel Duchamp, and Gerard Dou. In other rooms of the museum you will also find works by Bouguereau, John de Andrea, Wolf Vostell, Meifrén, and Ernst Fuchs. Since Salvador Dalí’s death in 1989 you can visit his tomb in the crypt, located in the centre of the museum; this space was remodelled in 1997 to include a collection of gold jewellery designed by the artist.

 My house in Port Lligat is a real biological structure… From each new pulse of our life would emerge a new cell, a room.

Our next stop is Cadaqués, a beautiful village on the wildest part of the Costa Brava Dalí discovered on summer holidays with his family. When Dalí and Gala decided to take up permanent residence in Spain, they bought several fishermen’s cabins in the small harbour of Port Lligat and built their permanent refuge there. They were tired of the stressful life of travels and hotel living, and what could be more elegant that to move from crazy New York to this little cove you could only reach by sea or on foot. Of course the house bears the personal mark of Dalí. A stuffed bear welcomes you and behind that an owl with spread wings. Stuffed animals are everywhere: swans in the library and a lamb in the bedroom. Next to the living room is the studio, a luminous space in which Dalí had a motor-driven easel that allowed him to paint large pictures without having to climb onto a scaffold. From the bedroom you go through the bathroom to the dressing room, in which the wardrobes are decorated with photos from his personal albums. From hear you reach the oval gala room decorated with kitsch objects of little value collected by Dalí’s muse.

 Most curious is the surrealist part of the garden, presided by a phallus-shaped swimming pool crowned by an Arab temple. At one side there is a mise en scène with a sofa shaped like Mae West’s lips and a fountain decorated with old aniseed bottles. As a backdrop there are large advertisements for tyres. Without lies an olive grove with the famous sculpture The Christ of Trash made from waste. We end this excursion by the bluest sea of the Mediterranean coastline, an Empordanese sea that the Tramuntana gives that special shine Dalí mastered in his paintings.