FIGUERES (CATALUNYA end OCTOBER 2011)

Figueres was our next destination, for me to see the Dali Museum, unfortunately we had chosen market day, so we drove round and round trying to find a parking space. At last we parked and walked to the extraordinary building that houses Dalis works, also where he is entombed. The building itself is painted crimson, on some elevations, with huge eggs placed at intervals along its roofline.

It used to be the Municipal Theatre and is the largest surrealist object in the world. The elevation we spent most time looking at, as we had to queue for nearly 2hrs, had a huge sculpture in the square in front of it and mounted on the wall behind you can see a strange man in a diving suite,
 perhaps alluding to the time Dali nearly suffocated in a diving suite, whilst in London,
 lecturing at a surrealist exhibition, in 1936. It may even be the same suite!

High above set against the blue sky, were gold figuers and knights with loaves of bread on their heads, but then he did have a thing about loaves too, having wanted to bake a 15 metre symbolic loaf, to be placed in the gardens of the Palais Royal, followed by even larger loaves in all the cities of Europe.

Evenually we entered, Mike much relieved, as he had stayed in the queue all the time, as I popped in and out of various shops, buying things! It was worth the wait, a palace of the imagination!  The installation done in 1934, of Mae West as a whole apartment, was pure genius.  To see his paintings, displayed in a setting that he had designed, so inspiring. What a man, what an epitaph!

Below are some of the stunning paintings we photographed, which we hope gives you the want to visit this unique place, if you have not already done so.

Leda Atomica, 1949

The Spectre of Libido. 1934

The Poetry of America - The Cosmic Athletes. 1943

His Last Painting. 1983

The next day we visited Cadiques, where he had spent some time, it was a very pretty village, but rather over commercialised, then drove on to Port Lligat, where he and his beloved Gala had a fishermans cottage. Below is the small port and his house in the background. By now we were feeling a bit Dalied out, so decided to go on to the wild and beautiful Cap de Creuse, where there are the most strange rock structures, sculpted by the wind and rain, which inspired Dali and featured in many of his paintings.

The smell of wild herbs pervade the air and Dartford and Sardinian Warblers dart out of bushes and back into them again, as soon as you point a camera at them!

What memorable days, thank you Mr Dali.