Photo: Flickr Geo: Portlligat, Cadaqués, Girona, IS
Once, I reviewed a Dalí exhibition and recommended watching the film "Waiting for Dalí" (still relevant). Well, I found the prototype of the restaurant from that film in Portlligat, Spain. A wonderful, light, and slightly absurd villa—no need to guess who it belonged to.
The story of the house begins in the 1930s when Dalí bought a tiny fishing hut. He then acquired neighboring huts until these fragments grew into a personal labyrinth. It’s a nonsensical project without a concept: the house expanded, was remodeled, and accumulated details. From a planning perspective, it defies common sense but perfectly aligns with Dalí's logic.
Narrow passages alternate with panoramic windows that direct the gaze towards the Cadaqués bay. Low ceilings, white walls, uneven plaster, terracotta tiles—all part of the tradition of Catalan fishing villages. But here, it’s also a canvas for Dalí's works. You can find everything in the house: from a taxidermied polar bear greeting you at the entrance to a phallic-shaped pool—a kind of manifesto in itself. I recall stories about Marina Abramović's performances. Dalí himself called it a "biological interior."
Interestingly, of all the houses he lived in, he considered this one "real." He spent over 40 years here. The studio remains just as it was on the day he left Portlligat in 1982 with Gala.
Architecturally, it’s not just a house but a personal gallery. It cannot be replicated. Perhaps one could only live by such logic: allowing space to grow alongside a person—with all their asymmetries and quirks.