Ceret - Figueres, Salvador Dali museum.

I will feature each of Ceret's  boulangeries as they are important to our morning routine.

This was at the bottom of our street when we visited in 2012. We tried all the croissants in town
and declared these our favorite so, naturally, we have returned to this boulangerie.

 



There are certain standards that have to be met to be able to use the label "artisan", including
the use of butter in the croissant. Needless to say I am in favor of this requirement.

The display case across from the door holds the croissant (buerre et chocolat) and behind it
are the bins of baguettes.

A display case to the right displays the daily special (today it was "crepe sucre" for 1 Euro) and a
variety of sweets.

There is another display case for gateaux and tartes and a little coffee counter. A couple of tables inside and a couple out but most to the business is take out. This is the closest bakery to the high school and the college and their specials tend to cater to the students.

Our purchases, 3 croissant and a baguette cost 3.45 Euro, about $5.

After breakfast we packed a lunch and headed out to Spain again. As it was rather chilly we had decided to spend the day in a museum, Salvadore Dali's museum in Figueres.
Dali himself supervised the creation of the theatre and museum to house his works in Figueres, where he was born. After the visit Mum, Dad and I all confessed that we had not particularly liked the Dali works that we were aware of, as he is famous for his surrealistic paintings, melting watches and such. However we all loved the museum and were very impressed by his talent and the variety of his works.
We set out totally unprepared, no map, no guide book (no passports) and just hoped when we got there we would find it. It took two passes through the town as the museum is not well signed.

In the centre courtyard. "Rainy Taxi". The Cadillac contains 2 mannequins, its raining in there and there are snails and ivy. On top of the car the statue is chained to a column of tires, topped by a boat with water droplets hanging below. Bizarre and fascinating.

The galleries all around have windows onto this courtyard providing a constantly changing
perspective partially obstructed by the mannequins in each window.

This is the largest work displayed here and he is buried in a crypt below this room. The Abe Lincoln to the left, I didn't notice until I saw this photo. In person it is a series of rectangles and the back of a woman in the centre. One of the fascinating things about Dali's work is the hidden images.

Dali experimented and played with his art throughout his long and prolific career. He worked in oils, acrylics, pastels, pencil and pen. He worked on wood, canvas, cardboard and paper. He worked in painting, sketching, sculpture, film, photography and holographs. As Dad said; if had lived a little longer he would have had great fun with computers.

A beautiful little painting that I would never have attributed to Dali

Hard to believe its the same artist. He was a fantastic realistic painter, his nudes, feathers, drapes and clothing
all superbly rendered. He also played with cubism, pointillism and of course surrealism.

More what I've come to expect from Dali, nose and ear exchanged, though in a sculpture.

A different style.

And oh, just for a change, different style. As the dates were included with the titles beside
many of the works I tried to determine if he changed styles as  he matured. Nope, at any point in time
 he could produce  very different works of art.

Gala was his muse and later his wife and figures prominently in many of his paintings. This was
his signature at the bottom of one of his portraits of her.

The ceiling of one of the rooms, painted by Dali, of himself and Gala
ascending to heaven. Mostly realism though he has a drawer at his crotch
and his belly and there are some melting clock faces in the border.

The museum also houses some works by other artists, either from Dali's own collection or exhibits he hosted in the museum while still alive.
On coming home we decided to partake in a sale at the Carreforre, duck and foie gras. The duck was the cheaper option so we had duck breast for dinner. Delicious!