We awoke to rain and a dead battery in Carcasonne. A push solved the latter and we headed back to Barcelona with a brief detour to Figueres for a visit to "the largest surrealistic object in the world," also known as the Dali Theatre-Museum.
Oscar-like statues surround the interior courtyard.
A gigantic room encloses Dali's crypt.
You find this upon entering one darkened room.
Which looks like this if you're patient enough to stand in line to climb a small staircase.
Dali goes for a similar effect here on a smaller scale. See how the reflected image becomes the top half of a skull?
Who knew the Cowardly Lion lactated?
Visitors are strongly encouraged to find their own way through the museum which occupies three floors. The variety of painting, sculpture, furnishing and curious installation astonishes.
Some of the work is instantly recognizable.
And some looks familiar because it's been appropriated by other artists working in different media. The malevolent doll is now a horror movie cliche.
Sleeping in this bed must stimulate some pretty fabulous dreaming.
It put me in the mood for a selfie.
Our admission also included a temporary exhibit of Dali's jewels around the corner. Here's Thom on his way into the gallery.
"My jewels are a protest against emphasis upon the cost of the materials of jewelry," writes Dali in the catalog. "My object is to show the jeweler's art in true perspective--where the design and craftsmanship are to be valued above the material worth of the gems, as in Renaissance times." Mission accomplished.
He even mechanized one of the jewels. Their intricate beauty reminded me a little of the Faberge eggs I once saw displayed at the Grand Kremlin Palace.
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