Salvador Dali Day

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What a troubled, troubled man!! Genius or Freak - that is totally up to you. However, having learned a tiny bit about his life, we can now see where some of his angst ridden work/genius began. I won't even try to tell you about his life but the two facts that resonated with me were:

1. His older brother died as a child and Salvador was given his name. Fancy living with that.

2. He never returned to the home he and his wife, Gala, shared after her death perhaps indicating a deep, deep love.

The home we visited was the one he set up with Gala by buying a series of fishing huts and joining them together at Portligat. Salvador's family used to hoIiday in nearby Cadaques but, following an argument with his father, he was forbidden to return to the town where had enjoyed so many summer holidays so set up house in the next bay. It was filled with "uniquely Dali" things including stuffed animals. Evidently taxidermy was big in those days and he had quite a collection. He had thred pet swans and when they died he had them stuffed - as you do!! Gala collected children's chairs and Matrushka dolls so there were little chairs in many of the rooms and the famous "Mae West lips" couch is there. The whole house was truly amazing and only a few people are allowed in for 10 minutes at a time under the watchful eye of a very austere "guard" who did warm up once we showed an interest in the St John's Wart flowers that were dried and in every room - changed every 3 years and protected throughout Europe.

There was a film of his life which showed some of his "random" moments which were evidently quite varied and frequent. He evidently decided to starve himself at one stage so he could hallucinate enough to get to the next level of consciousness because he didn't believe in drugs!! The grounds are untamed and views incredible and even the swimming pool is a work of art. Truly a very different but fascinating experience.

We then went to nearby Cadaques and explored on our own which was great as it was a pretty seaside town and we had the best tapas lunch of our time in Spain, probably helped by the fact that we were sitting on the edge of the Mediterranean Sea.

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Photos

Mike thought he looked like he was preaching ...
One of our fellow travellers suggested he looked like he was in a urinal - you be the judge!

Notice anything weird about this photo
Probably no coincidence it was outside Dali's house

Comments

[Rosemarie and Rodney]

Lots of variety
What a wonderful Spanish experience you are having. Spain really has an amazing set of artists - Dali, Gaudi, Picasso and more - with very different art and architectural styles. It gives a lot of interest to your trip. Enjoy the Tapas!