salvador dalí

The Dalí Museums welcomed a total of 1,580,517 visitors in 2013, meaning an 8.42 % increase over 2012. This is the most important figure ever achieved by all three museums of the Dalí Foundation, located in north-eastern Catalonia: the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres, the Gala-Dalí Castle in Púbol (near the Costa Brava) and the artist’s house in Port Lligat, Cadaqués (a Costa Brava town). The Dalí Foundation congratulated itself and insisted such record attendance would spread even further the artist’s legacy in Spain and across the world.

The agreement was previously discussed with the Spanish Executive and it respects the Catalan Government’s external action power as described in Catalonia’s main law. The President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, signed the agreement with UNESCO’s General Director, Irina Bokova. The new framework allows Catalonia to have its “singularity” represented in the international organisation, although not permanently. Catalan representatives will be present in specific meetings and projects, separate from the Spanish delegation. “It is more than what we already have”, stated Mas. The Catalan President was one of the speakers at the Opening Plenary Session of UNESCO’s Global Conference, which is being held in Paris from the 3rd to the 5th of June.

The President of the Parisian centre, Alain Seban, compared Albert Serra’s work to that of Salvador Dalí, who he said was “another brilliant Catalan”. The Pompidou Centre will show Serra’s films, including his most recent one: ‘The three little pigs’ (2012), which is an experiment on Goethe, Hitler and Fassbinder and lasts 101 hours. ‘Honor de cavalleria’ (‘Knighthood honour’ in English, from 2006) and ‘El cant dels ocells’ (‘Song of the birds’, from 2008) will also be shown. The exhibition will run in the French capital from the 17th of April to the 12th of May. In addition, the Parisian museum will organise debates, such as the one on bullfighting with Serra and the painter Miquel Barceló.

The three Dalí museums managed by the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation were visited by 1.46 million people, 1.82% more visitors than in 2011. The Teatre Museu Dalí in Figueres, the Gala Dalí castle in Púbol and the Salvador Dalí house in Portlligat, all exhibit the work of the most important figure of Surrealism and represent a key tourism attraction for Catalonia and for the Costa Brava area.

The French Arts Centre is organising one of the largest and most complete retrospective exhibitions on the Catalan artist. 33 years ago, when Dalí was still alive, the Centre Pompidou held a retrospective of his work. In the 2012 exhibition, which will run until the 25th of March 2013, it is claimed that Dalí is one of the most influential artists ever, who not only shaped surrealism but also pop art. The exhibition is full of masterpieces, such as the soft and melting pocket watches of The Persistence of Memory (1931), The Great Masturbator (1929) and Mae West’s room, shown in the Dalí museum in Figueres.

The Suñol Foundation celebrates its fifth anniversary with a new exhibition of 100 works from its collection, 30 of which have never been seen before. The exhibition combines works from Catalan artists such as Joan Miró, Jaume Plensa, Antoni Tàpies and Salvador Dalí, with others by Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Man Ray and Alighiero Boetti, among others.

The Púbol Castle, located near the Costa Brava, reopened its doors on March 15th after being closed for a year. The house of Salvador Dalí in Cadaqués, North of the Costa Brava, re-opened on February 12th, after its usual winter break.

Barcelona’s Opera Theatre offers only three portrayals of the Catalan composer Xavier Benguerel’s opera ‘Jo, Dalí’ (I, Dalí). It is a four act opera, which comes to the Barcelona theatre for the first time. Xavier Benguerel is one of the most recognised classical music contemporary composers in Catalonia.

Despite the financial crisis, visitors have increased by an average of 9.3% compared to the same period from January to August last year

Famous poems and quotes from the Catalan painter will be coupled with songs in two exceptional concerts in Dalí’s hometown Figueres. Twelve groups will perform in the celebration of the artist, including Manel, Love of Lesbian, Antònia Font or Lax’n’Busto. The show will commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Acústiva Festival

The exhibition, which commemorates the 70th anniversary of the first meeting between Salvador Dalí and the American photographer Philippe Halsman, reflects the close ties the two artists kept up for over 37 years. The temporary exhibition ‘Dalí by Halsman’ is a collection of 88 photographs on show until 31st December at the Gala Dalí Castle in Púbol.

The manuscript has been discovered in Dalí and Gala’s castle in Púbol. It reveals the writer dimension of the woman with whom the painter Salvador Dalí was deeply in love.

Chinese businessmen have chosen the Catalan coastal village to be the model for their new holiday resort in China. This Costa Brava village will thus have a carbon copy in Zhangzhou, Fujian region’s Xiamen bay.

Berlin’s Museum is pretending to be an “official” Dalí Museum, with its website www.dalimuseum.de. The Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation won a trial against the German museum, but while a court appeal is pending, Berlin’s Dalí Museum is still open to visitors and using the “official” name.

Dalí’s Foundation and the Spanish National Organisation of the Blind (ONCE) sign an agreement to allow visually-impaired visitors to enjoy the work of the Catalan artist. The Museum in Figueres, the Castle-House in Púbol and the House-Museum in Cadaqués will adapt their itineraries.