Dalí's Alt Emporda

Salvador Dalí, the flamboyant pioneer of Surrealism and arguably one of the greatest artists of the 20th century, was born in Figueres on 11th May 1904. Throughout his life, and despite having a career that took him all over the world - including Paris and America - he always returned to the Costa Brava.

Dalí loved to spend time on the coast, and the small fishing village of Cadaqués captured his artistic imagination from an early age. Here, at his family house on Llaner beach, he entertained artists and intellectuals, including his fellow Surrealist painter Magritte and Andalucian poet and playwright Frederico García Lorca.

It was here in 1929 that Dalí met Elena Ivanovna Diakonova, a Russian emigrant who was married at the time to a colleague from the Surrealist group. Dalí and 'Gala', as her called here, fell in love and she became his muse, model and later, wife. Dalí and Gala soon brought their first property in the area, an old fisherman's hut surrounded by pines and olive trees just up the coast in the bay of Port Lligat. The rocky headland of the Cap de Creus appear time and again in his paintings.

Over the next 40 years, as the scale of Dalí's paintings increased, so did his home. The couple purchased several neighbouring huts, which they connected together to form a multi-level structure, housing a library, lounge areas, dining room, bedrooms, Dali's workshop and a wealth of bizarre objects such as a bejewelled stuffed bear, swans lip-shaped sofas.

In the early Seventies, Gala moved out of Port Lligat and into the extravagant gift her husband had bought her, an 11th century castle in Púbol, which he only visited when invited. After Gala died in 1982, Dalí moved in for a couple of years and was granted the title of Marquès de Púbol by King Juan Carlos I. Púbol is highly opulent; complete with altar, throne and bedrooms adorned with plush, bright fabrics, but it’s less homely that Port Lligat. The artist's handiwork is evident everywhere, in the false doorway and radiators painted directly on to the walls, and the elephant sculptures teetering on long bony legs amongst trees in the garden.

In 1973, Dalí inaugurated his most ambitious project: the Casa-Museu Dalí, in Figueres. The museum provided a special insight into Dalí's world. "It is the best way to understand his work, since the museum was conceived by Dalí himself as a Surrealist object in which he designed and arranged everthing just as it can be seen nowadays," explains a spokesperson for the Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí.

The building is a mixture of gallery and work of art in itself: attention has been paid to every detail, from the gold statuette greeting visitors at the entrance to the 22 areas inside, each with its own distinctive layout and exhibits, comprising a collection of pieces spanning every phase of Dalí's creative evolution. His trademark images are everywhere; desert landscapes, ants, crutches and, above all, the ever-present, Gala. Some of the most famous works include the paintings 'The Spectre of Sex-Appeal' (1932), 'Soft Self-Portrait with Fried Bacon' (1941) and 'Galatea of the Spheres' (1952). There are also fantastical sculptures and compositions such as the Mae West Room and the menacing gargoyle in the museum's courtyard. Work by other artists include a space dedicated to Dali's close friend Antoni Pitxot, who inspired Dalí to become an artist.

Dalí died in Figueres, on 23rd January 1989; he is buried in the crypt of his Teatre-Museu Dalí. Both Port Lligat and Castell Púbol have been restored to their former glory; all three places take visitors on a journey into the fascinating world of one of the greatest creative minds of the 20th century.

Teatre Museu Dalí (Figueres) Tel. 972 677 500

Casa-Museu Salvador Dalí (Port Lligat) Tel. 972 251 015

Casa-Museu Castell Gala Dalí (Púbol) Tel. 972 488 655

Advanced booking is necessary at Port Lligat, Púbol and for large groups at the Teatre-Museu.

All museums are managed by the Fundació Gala-Salavador Dalí (www.salvador-dali.org)