The Dalí Triangle in Catalonia connects three places central to the life of Salvador Dalí: the surreal museum he designed in Dalí Theatre-Museum, his whimsical seaside home in Salvador Dalí House-Museum, and the quiet medieval retreat of Gala Dalí Castle. My friend Lauren and I set out to explore these places on a winter trip through Catalonia, discovering just how surreal, strange, and beautiful Dalí’s world really was. Lastly, we figured out that the Dali triangle somehow became a full circle…
Places we visited
- Dali Museum and Theater in Figueres
- Gala’s Castle in Pubol
- Dali’s House in Port Lligat
- Casa Natal Dali in Figueres
A Pilgrimage to Dalí’s World
My friend Lauren and I decided to make a pilgrimage to Figueres to learn more about Salvador Dali. And as we expected, it was surreal, beautiful, and inspiring.
Figueres is pretty close to Barcelona, so we took a train from Madrid to Barcelona, and then another train to Figueres.
Visiting the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres
The town of Figueres is generally best known for the Salvador Dali Theater and Museum, which Dali designed and conceptualized himself. The outside of the building was topped with golden eggs, and on the walls were golden loaves of bread? Poo? It was rather curious. The museum was really grand and open, except the galleries were on the opposite sides of the building and often narrow and disorienting to navigate. It felt very Daliesque.
As we roamed the galleries, I began to see Dali’s inspiration coming from where he lived in Port Lligat. There were lots of paintings of rocks, plus Dali made the piles of rocks resemble nude figures.
Dalí’s Surreal Home in Port Lligat
Dali’s house is right by the sea, and we drove there from Figueres on a winding road that offered stunning views of the ocean.
Dali and Gala had steadily bought a series of fisherman’s huts and combined them into one big house. Numerous curious things were on display, including a lot of taxidermy of birds and bears. There was a room that served as Dali’s studio, with easels and ways to display large canvases.
I couldn’t really begin to describe in words how curious and intriguing his house was, from the bedroom to the circular room for lounging that allowed you to hear every word and echo that emanated from it. Outside, there was a penis-shaped pool and more taxidermy, plus faux snakes. There was even an egg that you could crawl into and pop out of. We also watched a screening of one of his short films, which was projected in one of the rooms on the terrace.
Lunch in the Quiet Seaside Town of Cadaqués
After lunch in Cadaques, the neighboring seaside town, where most things were closed in December. But we loved how the town was completely surrounded by the stunning beach, with waves coming in and out. It was serene and so captivating.
Visiting Gala Dalí’s Castle in Púbol
The castle is from the 11th century and was the most isolated and hardest to reach out of all the places we went to in relation to Dali. The town was very quiet, pretty much abandoned, except for a ceramic artist with a beautiful studio inside one of the medieval buildings. The feral cats pretty much had free reign of the town.
Gala’s castle was very quiet. There didn’t seem to be any other visitors besides the two of us, and you could tell the guard and the two women sitting at the reception area were incredibly bored. It turned out that Gala was buried underneath the castle, fitting because this was the place that Dali promised he would only come to visit with her permission.
Casa Natal Dali
On our last day, we were staying in Figueres and found out about a fairly new museum called Casa Natal Dali. Located in downtown Figueres, the house was occupied by the Dali family and it was Dali’s first home. The house, which doesn’t seem to be affiliated with the Dali Museum or his house in Port Lligat, has been converted into a historical museum traverses you into the life of Dali. My friend and I — we had fairly low expectations for this museum but honestly, we were impressed. The flow of the displays with audio was very well done, super informative and easy to follow. And fun fact, Dali designed the Chupa Chups logo, those lollipops are everywhere in Spain. We really enjoyed ourselves with this final Dali experience!
The Dalí Triangle, or the full circle as we experienced would be an ideal 2 day trip from Barcelona! We did this trip in 3 days for a more leisurely pace. Figueres is easily reached by train from Barcelona Sants, but Pubol and Port Lligat is best travelled to by renting a car.
Tip:
I highly recommend renting a car to reach Port Lligat and Pubol. You can reach Figueres by train from Barcelona and then rent a car in Figueres.
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