It’s cool and rainy as i arrive in Figueres, Catalunya, on Easter Saturday. There are no processions, but eggs line the roof of the pink Dalí theatre museum, and visitors stand in line out the door into the plaza that bears the artist’s name.
Salvador Dalí converted this theatre of the town of his childhood, destroyed in civil war, into “the largest surrealist object in the world.” His tomb is here, deep inside, with many levels and rooms of his work, each room a world connected dreamlike, worlds to wander freely among the crowds.
I cry in the atrium, overwhelmed by all these awesome images blooming in my brain, realizing that i am a tiny detail inside a huge surrealist art object. Seeing the Mediterranean coast in the images and peeling it back to show the Birth of Venus, the flood of inspiration takes me in. Spiritual love union with Gala…Greco Roman Christian mythos all mixed with some thing new…the iconic coastline doubtlessly their home at Cadaqués, a place i could not access…so i figured…
There are sculptures whismical, classical, and creepy all at once, changing points of view. Soft portraits, soft clocks, everything…ladies with baguettes on their heads…gold figures dancing around the dome….cypress trees…dragon jewel and egg on a gemstone chalice…Jesus, the Fat Goddess, Mae west, faeries, beautiful bodies of many genders.
In one bedroom, it’s like surreal IKEA with yellow sheets, serpent posts, and skeletons under soft clocks. And of course there’s no solid time until the church bell rings…the church of Dalí’s childhood….
Figueres is a cute Catalàn town, walkable with some amenities and views north toward the Pyrenees. The Hostel Figueres is artsy, cozy, and close to the center with the Dalí moustache theme. Costs were a little inflated because of Easter weekend, but this is all so much worth it. And, the dreamlike experience is about to go much further…
Arianna, 15 April 2017
arianna's creative travels 