All Abroad: A Surreal Halloween

Dalí is one of the few artists whose work captivated me from an early age. I think it was in the Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris that I first realized just how cool surrealism really is: as a preteen on a week-long vacation with my parents, Dalí's work was one thing that I managed to get through without complaining. Naturally, the Theatre-Museum Dalí was at the top of my to-see list while in Barcelona, and this long weekend (thank you, Catholic holidays) provided me with an extra-long window to blow off work and go.

The museum is actually in Figueres, a town about two hours north of Barcelona (and two south of the French border -- beaucoup de francophones!). We arrived around 1:30 pm, followed the signs to the museum, and grabbed lunch before immersing ourselves in the craziness.

Turns out, there's really not much else in Figueres besides the Dalí museum. As you can see above, traces of Dalí's influence abound, acting as a sort of prelude on the walk to the actual museum complex.

The museum itself is, well, pretty great. There was a huge emphasis on sculpture, which I wasn't expecting, and I was quite impressed by the integration of different media.

Different views of the central courtyard.

This painting is awesome -- until I focused on it with my camera lens, I couldn't see the Lincoln face at all. Without the extra focus, it just looks like the back of a woman.

I had no idea that Dalí worked on gold sculptures, but there was an entire exhibit focused on his work with gold. Salvad'or? Intentional pun? I sure hope so.

Other cool sculptures...

Rooftop eggs.

Surreal bedroom? The guard explained to us here that Dalí had a huge part in designing this museum -- he helped to lay out almost all of the rooms and organize the interactions between pieces.

This last one is one of the coolest -- it's a room of eccentric furniture that forms the face only when you look at it through a lens at a certain viewpoint.

More traditional ("traditional") paintings...