Last weekend we spent a surreal weekend in Cadaqués. This is up the coast from Barcelona an hour-and-a-bit, and features the spectacular rocky landscape of Cap de Creus, which is the easternmost point of the Iberian peninsula.
Why surreal? Well, over the hill from Cadaqués is Port Lligat, where Salvador Dalí had his home (Casa Museu virtual visit). You can visit the home (and we did), which is full of the quirks of his very diverse and eccentric artistic life.
On the way back to Barcelona, we stopped in nearby Figueres, where the Teatre Museu Dalí is located. He built his own museum, what a guy! One thing that is evident…he knew how to market himself, how to make a splash (or at least a controversy).
Eggs in Lligat, more eggs here on the roof of the museum in Figueres. Egg shapes were a Dalí favourite, along with glossy red lips, ants, the Michelin Man, swans and yes, melted clocks. And of course, his beloved Gala, who also modeled for so many works. If you want to see his personal life, see the casa in Port Lligat. If you want to see his work, go to the Museu in Figueres. Note that there is another museum in Púbol, in the castle he bought for Gala (his muse and wife). We went a few years ago but it was closed (opens March 15). This time, it was open, but we didn’t pass through Púbol, so it’ll have to wait for another time.
The house was more enjoyable, in a way, because it was so less full of people. It felt intimate, seeing his mounted swans and bear; his angled mirror so he could wake up to the “first rays of sun in the peninsuala”; the giant mechanism to allow him to manoeuvre huge canvases and paint them while remaining seated! Also, all of Gala’s press clippings about Dalí, plastered to the walls; the room for models to prepare themselves.
The gallery in Figueres was great to see so much of his art in one place, with so many different styles and experiments he did (from cubism to surrealism, sculpture, writing, stereoscopy and holograms — to name but a few!). And what museum would be complete without a crypt holding the very artist himself! I guess he is part of the permanent collection there…
An unexpected thing I discovered here was another artist: Antoni Pitxot. In fact, I went away from the Dalí gift shop with only one thing — and it wasn’t by Dalí! It was a painting of scattered stones (vaguely forming an image of a reclining woman) by Pitxot, that I had seen in the museum. The two were friends, and there is an exhibition of Pitxot’s work on the top floor. Rock and stone are so representative of the landscape here. You see the soft round Costa Brava beach-stones in Pitxot’s work; the skeletal, jagged volcanic landscape of the region reflected in many of Dalí’s forms; in the same way, you see the rounded natural “figures” of Monserrat in Gaudí’s architectural forms.
Besides the art, Cap de Creus itself was spectacular. The most amazing things was the blue, blue sea. It was a clear day, and the water was spectacular, something you’d associate more with sandy tropical beaches than rugged crashing sea! The wind was insane, that day. I thought I’d experienced the most extreme wind in Patagonia a few years ago, but this wind rivalled that, or may have even exceeded it. I didn’t have my portable anemometer (wind meter) with me, but I’m certain there were blasts well in excess of 100 km/h. Probably to 120 or beyond, at times…truly wind to knock you off your feet, which is a bit dangerous when you’re trying to walk along jagged volcanic rocks with very uneven footing to start with! Just putting a hand down, for balance, will likely leave you with some scraped-off skin; that’s how sharp and rough the rock is here.
We enjoyed a delicous paëlla, Catalan-style, in the restaurant on the point. I believe it’s owned by the same folks that run Cardamon in Barcelona, and Can Shelabi in Cadaqués (both great restaurants, too, and now I’ve been to all, done the “hat trick”). If not the same owners, at least they have some co-marketing agreement on their menus and business cards… The poor building rumbled and shuddered in the ferocious wind. A long wait to get a table, even though we had reserved ahead (sigh!), but well worth it for the view and the food (as long as you didn’t mind the dogs, which people seem to find less objectionable in restaurants here as they would in, say, Canada). Well — live and let live, as they say. When in Rome, and all that… Just don’t let him pee on my leg.
Tip: do yourself a favour and don’t go to Cadaqués and area during summer. These places are mobbed with sun-seekers then. I hate to imagine trying to navigate the sometimes-only-wide-enough-for-one-car roads around Cadaqués with a thousand other motorists. This was the perfect time of year to go (maybe just a touch too cool, this particular weekend anyhow). If you get a sunny spring or fall day, you’re in for a treat, because it’s quite spectacular…the towns, the landscape, the sea. And the emptiness…ahhhh…