10 Best Dalí Art in Barcelona

Although Dalí was born in Figueres, more than 140 kilometres northeast of Barcelona, in the latter city you can find different museums where it is possible to appreciate the artist's work. In fact, one of the best things to see and do in Barcelona is undoubtedly to go to the art museums to appreciate the works of famous artists such as Dalí.

Among the most famous works by Dalí that you can enjoy in the city of Barcelona are paintings such as the Bread Basket or the Face of War, and even more daring and criticised ones such as The Great Masturbator. Here is a summary of some of the works you can find in the city and the museums where you can go to see them.

This is a very special work, as Salvador Dalí painted it when he was just 16 years old. Portrait of My Father is a work that is relevant to the artistic history of both the artist (for having painted it at such a young age) and the Surrealist movement.

Robert Hughes, art critic, described the work as "a strangely mature image for someone so young" and went so far as to say that it was early evidence that Dalí was looking at the world with slightly distorted eyes.

Details of interest

• Location: National Art Museum of Catalonia
• Visiting hours: Tuesday to Saturday between 10:00 and 20:00. Sundays from 10:00 to 15:00.
• Price: from 14€.
• If you want to know more visit... The best museums in Barcelona

This is a surrealist work showing Picasso in a style characteristic of Dalí. The artist painted him with an elongated head and a somewhat distorted appearance. But beyond its appearance, the painting has led to an even deeper debate concerning the supposed rivalry between the two Spanish artists.

It is still the subject of debate today because of the image it suggests of the artist, which some see as a tribute, while other experts see it as a provocation by the Catalan to the Malaga-born artist. To see this work I recommend you buy tickets for the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueras, where the painting is exhibited.

Interesting details

• Location: Dalí Museum in Figueras
• Visiting hours: Depends on the time of year. It is usually open between 10:30 and 17:15; or from 9:00 to 19:15.
• Price: from 21€.

The Bread Basket is one of Dalí's most sublime works, because as well as evoking simplicity, it highlights an important part of the elements that the artist used to use in his works. The Basket of Bread has a truly moving story behind it, or at least that is how the artist himself told it during the first exhibition of the canvas in New York in 1945.

Dalí described the work behind his work by saying that it took him two consecutive months to produce it, working at a rate of four hours each day to finish it with as many details as possible. He also explained that during this period the most astonishing and sensational episodes in contemporary history took place, which made his work even more important.

Details of interest

• Location: Dalí Museum in Figueras
• Visiting hours: Depends on the time of year. It is usually open between 10:30 and 17:15; or from 9:00 to 19:15.
• Price: from 21€.
• To find out more visit... Excursions to the Dalí Museum from Barcelona

It was created by the author in 1952 and inside the painting you can see a portrait of the author's wife, Gala. Along with the portrait of the woman, there is a series of floating objects including spheres, polyhedra and a truncated rhomboidal dodecahedron.

One of the most interesting features of the work is its name, which is inspired by a character in a novel by Cervantes called La Galatea. The painting is part of the surrealist movement that marked the cultural scene at the beginning of the 20th century, thanks to the widespread work of Dalí. According to experts, in The Galatea of the Spheres the Catalan artist tries to convey the concept of divine geometry, which is represented by the floating forms around the portrait of his wife.

Interesting details

• Location: Dalí Museum in Figueras
• Visiting hours: Depends on the time of year. It is usually open between 10:30 and 17:15; or from 9:00 to 19:15.
• Price: from 21€.
• To find out more visit... Excursions to the Dalí Museum from Barcelona

The Portrait of Joan Maria Torras is one of the oldest paintings by Salvador Dalí, who created it around 1921, when he was only 17 years old. It is executed in a cubist style, on which he was influenced by his artistic mentor, Ramon Pichot. The painting basically consists of showing Joan Maria Torras through Dalí's eyes. The person in the painting was a friend and fellow student of the author at the San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid.

Experts in this type of art explain that in this work we can already see the influence that artists such as Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque had on Dalí's work. They also explain that it is possible to see in this work how the creative process of surrealism that characterised Dalí for the rest of his career began.

Details of interest

• Location: National Art Museum of Catalonia
• Visiting hours: Tuesday to Saturday between 10:00 and 20:00. Sundays from 10:00 to 15:00.
• Price: from 14€.

The sculpture "Woman Aflame" or "La Mujer en Llamas", designed by Dalí around 1980, will catch your attention because it is made in bronze and offers the viewer a surrealistic vision.

It has been exhibited other times in other important places around the world, however, right now it is exhibited at the MoCo Museum in Barcelona, so I recommend you to buy your ticket to see this work. This sculpture probably finds its inspiration in a pictorial work by the same artist called "La persistencia de la memoria" (The persistence of memory).

Interesting details

• Visiting hours: Monday and Friday from 11:00 to 19:30. Saturdays from 10:00 to 20:00. Sundays and public holidays open between 10:00 and 15:00.
• Price: between 6 and 12 euros.

Figures Lying in the Sand" was created by the Catalan artist Salvador Dalí in 1931 in a hyperrealist style. Bright colours can be seen in the work, which contrast with the pronounced shadows and the angular and distorted shapes. As to its meaning, experts have said that it could represent Dalí's childhood fears and traumas and his fascination with psychology.

It is undoubtedly an important work in the creation of Salvador Dalí and the surrealist movement. Although it is not actually in the Catalan capital, you can visit it on an excursion to Girona from Barcelona.

Details of interest

• Location: Dalí Museum in Figueras
• Visiting hours: Depends on the time of year. It is usually open between 10:30 and 17:15; or from 9:00 to 19:15.
• Price: from 21€.
• To find out more visit... Excursions to the Dalí Museum from Barcelona

Among Dalí's truly outstanding works is undoubtedly Self-Portrait with Fried Bacon, an amusing oil on canvas that was created by the Catalan artist around 1941. It is one of Dalí's most special works because it delves into the exploration of the concept of reality and personal identity.

Art experts agree that what the image conveys is the artist's desire to transcend the limits of the self and merge with the universe, thanks to the appearance of the melting, soft portrait. You can also see in the work the different symbols that characterise Dalí's work in most of his works, which are the soft watchmaking and the animal symbolism represented by the fried bacon.

Details of interest

• Location: Dalí Museum in Figueras
• Visiting hours: Depends on the time of year. It is usually open between 10:30 and 17:15; or from 9:00 to 19:15.
• Price: from 21€.
• To find out more visit... Excursions to the Dalí Museum from Barcelona

When he was 22 years old and a student at the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid, Salvador Dalí created the work "Girl from Figueres". It is a portrait showing a young woman with an enigmatic expression, a long neck and an oval head, which gives it the recurring characteristics of Dalí's work.

The work is an oil on canvas with soft, delicate brushstrokes that help to create subtle textures. This is one of the artist's earliest works that caught the attention of the public and art critics. Experts have described it as a fresh blend of traditional and modernist techniques, and it is considered to be Dalí's first approach to surrealist technique.

Details of interest

• Location: Dalí Museum in Figueras
• Visiting hours: Depends on the time of year. It is usually open between 10:30 and 17:15; or from 9:00 to 19:15.
• Price: from 21€.
• To find out more visit... Excursions to the Dalí Museum from Barcelona

The Barcelona Mannequin is a surrealist work by Salvador Dalí in 1926. It is an oil on canvas originally exhibited at the Dalmau galleries in Barcelona during an exhibition of Catalan Pictorial Modernism. The work currently forms part of the collection of the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres.

The painting is notable for the integration of various forms and symbolic elements that make up the image of a "mannequin": one can see, for example, the triple silhouette of the head and other symbols characteristic of the Dalinian universe, such as the eye, the crescent moon and the fish, elements that invite the spectator to become involved and interpret their profound meaning.

The technique used is oil painting, and the work is a clear example of the fusion between surrealism and Catalan modernism, making the viewer feel an active part of the symbolic world that Dalí creates.

Details of interest

• Location: Dalí Museum in Figueras
• Visiting hours: Depends on the time of year. It is usually open between 10:30 and 17:15; or from 9:00 to 19:15.
• Price: from 21€.
• To find out more visit... Excursions to the Dalí Museum from Barcelona