Figueres Dali Museum Theatre Tourist guide

About Figueres Theatre Museum Dali

Salvador Dali could be considered the most famous citizen from Figueres and it is in this town where we find the main Dali museum. The best way to visit the Dali Museum from Barcelona is by train.

The entrance to the Museo Dali is not via the red facaded building but via the theatre building in plaza Gala i Salvador Dali. In front of the theatre facade is a Dali-designed monument to Francesc Pujols within railings.

Plaza Gala i Salvador Dali continues to the right of the theatre facade where there are three reproductions of the sculpture made by Antoni Merci in 1895 of the painter Meissonier (1815-1891), an artist praised by Dali. These reproductions are placed on columns formed by six, seven and seventeen tractor wheel tires.

What was the stalls area of the theatre museum is now an open-air atrium dominated by a Cadillac car that forms the centre piece of several sculptures. Don't forget to look inside the car from all sides.

The atrium is surrounded on either side by narrow white corridors that house Dali's paintings and pencil drawings. The right corridor (facing the stage) leads onto the stage which contains a full height surrealist mural. The stage area is topped by a glass dome, the pattern of the structure said to resemble an eye of a fly because Dali thought about the perspective that a fly has on the world through their eyes.

From the stage looking out at the atrium on the left there are stairs that lead up to a second floor. The second floor follows the same plan as the first with a corridor running in a horseshoe shape round the stage and central atrium. leading off from the corridor are various rooms such as the Mae West room, The fishmongers room, Loggia, The Treasure room and The Palace of the wind.

Each room is in itself a surrealist piece of art with exhibits that occupy walls, floors, ceilings and all three simultaneously. The Theatre Museum Dali is much more than a traditional art gallery and when visiting I recommend always looking up at the ceiling and down at the floor as well as around the walls.

Dali Theatre Museum History

The origins of the Dali Museum are from the 60's when the mayor of Figures asked Dali to donate a piece to the Museum of Emporada. Dali decided to donate a whole museum instead!

The museum was a former municipal theatre that was reduced to a shell by a fire at the end of the Spanish civil war. The building had been reduced to it's outer stone walls with the ceiling of the orchestra pit collapsed, the stalls stone walls remained as well as the stone arch over the stage mouth. The entrance hall, and side stalls remained mostly intact after the fire.

From the 70's Dali devoted his entire attention to the museum project, living in the theatre to complete the works and shape the distinct exhibition rooms. The Dali Museum opened on 28th September 1974.

Dali took advantage of the semi ruined theatre to craft a unique exhibition space for his works. Everything in the museum was conceived and created by Dali himself. The museum can be considered a surrealist work of art and is unusual in that the artist has created and curated his own museum.

The Dali Exhibition in the dali museum is the largest collection of his works

Salvador Dali died on the 23rd of January 1989 and in accordance with Dali's wishes, he is buried inside his museum beneath the dome. In the middle of the stage area you will see on the floor a stone cover to his tomb.

Image Gallery for Figueres Theatre Museum Dali

Click on any of the 17 images to open full screen gallery player

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