{"id":13625,"date":"2018-06-07T13:07:11","date_gmt":"2018-06-07T08:01:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.museunacional.cat\/?p=13625"},"modified":"2020-07-06T11:43:47","modified_gmt":"2020-07-06T11:43:47","slug":"a-personal-invitation-from-gala-dali","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.museunacional.cat\/en\/a-personal-invitation-from-gala-dali\/","title":{"rendered":"A personal invitation from Gala Dal\u00ed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Elisabet Pueyo<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
\"Castle<\/a>
Castle of P\u00fabol. Photo: Conxa Rod\u00e0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We receive an invitation.  As if it was from Gala herself, the team of the Fundaci\u00f3n Gala Salvador Dal\u00ed invited us to get to know the castle of P\u00fabol<\/a>, the refuge of Gala in the Empord\u00e0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the occasion of the exhibition Gala-Dal\u00ed<\/a> which the Museu Nacional is co-organizing with the Foundation this July, the teams of Communication and of Digital Projects of the Museum proposed to get inside, physically and conceptually, this Room of one\u2019s own in P\u00fabol<\/em><\/strong>, <\/em>the title which the curator Estrella de Diego has baptized this exhibition, inspired by the essay by Virginia Wolf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, under the influence of a Russian woman and another British, a group of women got on a train, destination Fla\u00e7\u00e0. There, another group of women waited for us.  These are some brief notes, not an exhaustive tour, of our first-hand experience of the role-play between Gala and Salvador Dal\u00ed<\/strong> that this space reflects and transpires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gala, I give you a Gothic castle as a gift  <\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I accept with one condition, that you only come to visit me in the Castle by invitation<\/em>.<\/em> This response by Gala to Salvador Dal\u00ed which is the very principle of courteous love, is also the personal and unique stamp of the relationship of this creative couple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Pati<\/a>
Castle of P\u00fabol court<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Piscina<\/a>
Castle of P\u00fabol gardens<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the reconstruction of the castle, we begin to discover a constant juxtaposition between the two characters<\/strong>.  A clear mandate of Gala as a client and owner, on this occasion, and an always genial response \u2013 and stubborn \u2013 by Dal\u00ed. An example is the initial surprise in the adjoining garden to the house.  A place in which Gala wanted to see reflected the gardens of her childhood in Crimea but that Dal\u00ed executed in favour of the Renaissance model of a Bomarzo<\/a>, with impossible symmetries and magical corners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Castle<\/a>
Castle of P\u00fabol court<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Taking a tour of the rooms we can see how Dal\u00ed created, based on the ruins from the past, new significances, centred on the figure of his lady<\/strong>: a throne that presides the entrance, a cut-out figure of Gala in the heavens of the room, a celestial dome … the recovery and surrealist re-interpretation of medieval traditions presided over by the letter G, of Gala, symbolizing and making clear who is the lady and who, the vassal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is when we go inside the private rooms<\/strong> \u2013 her living room, her bedroom, her library, her bathroom \u2013 that we see the personality of Gala better reflected:  a practical, cultured, assertive, modern, inspired woman\u2026we can imagine how she passed her days in the castle-refuge.  Stopping any inopportune visitors from entering beyond the room on the ground floor, enjoying her friends and lovers, enjoying in a simple and close way the household service, writing\u2026and evicting everyone from the house on the arrival of her gentleman Salvador Dal\u00ed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Sal\u00f3n<\/a>
Entrance hall. The door on the right is a trompe l’oeil <\/em>. \u00a9 Fundaci\u00f3 Gala-Salvador Dal\u00ed, Figueres, 2018<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Bedroom<\/a>
Bedroom of Gala. Photos: Conxa Rod\u00e0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Definitely, she as the maximum exponent of the freedom that Virginia Wolf claims<\/strong> to reach in the “prosaic conclusion … that you have to have five hundred pounds a year and a room with a latch on the door to write novels or poems\u201c (Virginia Wolf, A room of one\u2019s own).<\/em>  In this case, Gala managed it in the form of a castle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Visita<\/a>
Image taken during the visit<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Old<\/a>
Old library of Castle of P\u00fabol<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Gala: showcase and pedestal<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

During the visit, Jordi Artigas, coordinator of the museum houses of the Foundation, gave us an idea that reflects very well the role and importance of Gala in the life and work of Salvador Dal\u00ed. And it is that Gala was the showcase that protected Dal\u00ed from his fears<\/strong> and solved all the practical everyday matters; at the same time she was a pedestal that elevated and promoted him<\/strong> as the best agent would know how to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And he also reveals to us at the end of the tour, in the silence of the mausoleum of the castle, how GALA defines herself – without saying so openly – in a poem from her unpublished Diary:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

sensible woman as a woman lover and loved <\/em>[…]
strong as the open branches of an ancient oak <\/em>[…]
Protective like a damp grotto <\/em>[…]
skilful like the proboscis of a bee vampire of the flowers <\/em>[\u2026]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Gala Dal\u00ed. The Secret Life. Unpublished Diary<\/em>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Gala<\/a>
Gala with Elsa Schiaparelli\u2019s shoe-hat inspired by a Salvador Dal\u00ed design. 1938. Andr\u00e9 Caillet. Par\u00eds. Image Rights of Gala et Salvador Dal\u00ed reserved. Fundaci\u00f3 Gala-Salvador Dal\u00ed, Figueres, 2018.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We agree that this visit, contrary to the expectations we may have had, is not the end but a starting point. We have more appetite to know, to read about and to contemplate Dal\u00ed’s work with different eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Salvador<\/a>
Salvador Dal\u00ed and Gala working on the \u201cDream of Venus\u201d pavilion. 1939. Eric Schaal \u00a9 Fundaci\u00f3 Gala-Salvador Dal\u00ed, Figueres, 2018. Image Rights of Gala et Salvador Dal\u00ed reserved. Fundaci\u00f3 Gala-Salvador Dal\u00ed, Figueres, 2018<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Estrella de Diego, in her expository proposal<\/a>, gives us the opportunity to continue discovering Gala’s personal and artistic dream. A dream that becomes real when sharing it with Salvador Dal\u00ed. We invite you to get to know it on July 6 at the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Gala<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Acknowledgements <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We would like to give our gratitude for this visit to the members of the team of the Fundaci\u00f3n Gala Dal\u00ed<\/a>: Imma Parada, Nuri Aldeguer, Mercedes Aznar, Cinzia Azzini and Silvia Nello, as well as Jordi Artigas for his detailed and enthusiastic guiding around the castle of P\u00fabol. Thank you for organizing such a fruitful and stimulating day.  And for allowing us to access, having done an initiatory test, the intimate circle of Gala.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear readers, you should know that access test is restricted to the initiated…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/a>
The team of the Gala-Salvador Dal\u00ed Foundation with the Museu Nacional team<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Related links<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Gala Salvador Dal\u00ed. A Room of One\u2019s Own in P\u00fabol<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

#GalaDal\u00ed<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Elisabet Pueyo We receive an invitation.  As if it was from Gala herself, the team of the Fundaci\u00f3n Gala Salvador Dal\u00ed invited us to get to know the castle of P\u00fabol, the refuge of Gala in the Empord\u00e0. On the occasion of the exhibition Gala-Dal\u00ed which the Museu Nacional is co-organizing with the Foundation this…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":13560,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,18,2],"tags":[1333],"class_list":["post-13625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communication","category-exhibitions","category-general-en","tag-surrealism","author-elisabet-pueyo"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blog.museunacional.cat\/wp-content\/uploads\/cap\u00e7alera-49.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4tWCI-3xL","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.museunacional.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.museunacional.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.museunacional.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.museunacional.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.museunacional.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13625"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/blog.museunacional.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21559,"href":"https:\/\/blog.museunacional.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13625\/revisions\/21559"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.museunacional.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.museunacional.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.museunacional.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.museunacional.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}