New exhibition offers intimate insight into life of Salvador Dalí

Long after his death, the Catalan surrealist artist Salvador Dalí continues to make an impact, especially in his hometown of Figueres in the north of the country. A new exhibition is set to open on Saturday made up of 135 pieces, including oil paintings, letters, manuscripts, drawings, and original photographs.

The exhibition, entitled ‘Els Dalí de Figueres. La família, l’Emporda  i l’art’ or ‘The Dalís of Figueres. Family, the Emporda, and the art’ in English, is the result of four years of investigation by art historian Mariona Seguranyes. It will offer an intimate look into the artist’s relationship with his family, and the influence that his father, Salvador Dalí Cusi, and his sister, Anna Maria, had on his work.

In depth

According to Seguranyes, the exhibition will shed light on certain chapters of Dalís life, such as his childhood and the breakup of his family. It will be divided up into three parts distributed throughout two floors of the Museu de l’Emporda in Figueres, the capital of Emporda county.

The first section revolves around the relationship between the artist and his father, and various challenges faced by Dalí in order to live the life he wanted. It documents the breakup of his family, which coincided with the arrival of new surrealist friends into his life.

“The female constellation”

The second section is based on the "female constellation" of the family. The figure of Anna Maria is particularly important in this exhibition. It looks into how Anna Maria stopped being Dalís muse and right hand with the appearance of Gala, who came to be his wife.

Another part is dedicated to a book written by Anna Maria in response to the artist’s own book ‘The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí’, written in 1942. ‘Salvador Dalí seen by his sister,’ written in 1949, marked the beginning of a literary career  with references to the beauty and customs of the coastal town Cadaqués, accompanied by memories of the past shared with the artist himself.

A small taste

The exhibition is free and runs until November 4. But it is only a small taste of the curator’s work researching the life of the Dalí family. A book is to be presented in due course with all the information and documentation Seguranyes collected.

The Mayor of Figueres, Marta Felip, said she was "very happy" with the result of the project and said that the exhibition "intimately connects the imaginary and the environment of Dalí."