Monday, June 27, 2011


 Yes! I am home! And the first thing I unpacked was my Half price Liberty fabrics.... 
A Girl has her priorities you know!

We had such a good time in London. Eating at every favorite place, 
the best Indian and Turkish food... Yum.  Hitting a few favorite shops... 
I was seriously missing London... I had not been in 4 years. 
Usually in the past, we would go once or twice a year since from NY 
you could get $100 flights each way,
to see Family easily, eat shop etc...
But it has gotten very expensive to go now, 
and those jaunts don't happen as often.
So I was thrilled to get to go play for a few days...
And to see Trudi! She is such a sweet heart, I enjoyed every minute walking around
with her... She got a kick out of  New Yorker showing her around London, :-)
We  had a great time walking through Liberty's, 
and Hamley's  toy store and the Natural History museum for Boo.
 The Main part of our trip to Go to Spain for the Dali foundation Symposium 
that my husband was a part of... We visited the Dali Museum in Figueres, Spain.
 I learned a lot about Dali, that I had not known before... Seeing where he was born, 
lived, and worked, and was inspired gave me a new perspective about his work. 
Kind of sad, really...Creativity oozes from the 
everything he touched.  
See the eggs at the top of the museum? And the BREAD stuck the outer walls of the museum?
Everything was multi layered with a huge
obsession for himself, time passing, life eternal, immortality, really a lost soul, 
Tons of Symbolism for eternity everywhere... 
Yellow, a color of eternity, eggs = life, Bread, the bread of life etc etc...

Dali,  created the museum as as a large complete work of art...  This painting of his wife Gala, 
hangs in the large open area of his museum. When you stand there looking at it you see Gala
in the nude, the sunset, and little bits of other things around her, tiles, blocks of color and 
small pic in the lower left of Abe Lincoln.... The Further back you stand from it, 
and squint, you see it's actually a HUGE picture of Abe Lincoln....

 Dali is even Buried in the middle of his own Museum.... the Large back drop he painted
hangs in the grand space, and as light changes, shadows from works of art in the museum
add to the image showing again, layers of his work...
 After that we went over the mountain to Cadeques. A town on the coast where Dali 
spent much time through his childhood and adult years. Images from these places 
appear in many of his works, and I can see why. It was truly a beautiful place...
 The LIGHT was amazing... CLEAR crisp light, shadowy sunsets... serene.
Just over a hill from us was Dali's house. 
A sprawling home just feet from the water...

Inside his house, objects of things that inspired him were all left as they were the 
day Gala died in 1982... After she died, he would not go back into the house...
 Paintings in progress were left...   Kind of sweet but sad too...

 Gala's Dressing room is covered with  images of Dali and magazine articles images... collaged everywhere...
 
Boo was quite taken with the pool and think we need to be more creative with our own...
We have no water fountains dripping over Spanish men wine bottles, no Firelli tire signs, 
no Michelin men  , no big PINK lip couches, or eggs, or fabric snakes lounging by our pool....

hehe.... But that's OK... Dali did.  
And we got to enjoy it a little bit. 

That's all for today...  Time to unpack, do laundry and cut some fabrics up... ;-)

27 comments:

  1. Half price Liberty!!! SCORE. Amazing photos of Dali's work. When one extremely creative genius dies, another is born.

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  2. This was a dream trip for sure. Love the photos...just wonderful. And fabric too!!! Icing on the cake!!

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  3. Welcome home! Thanks for sharing some photos & info about Dali ... interesting ... wow ... oh boy!

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  4. The Gala painting is very interesting. Thank you for the explanation.

    I think you can recreate that pool;) lol!

    I have another finished quilt and new name "Growing Stitches." Excited to stretch my creativity some!

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  5. Wow what a fantastic trip - thanks for sharing! but also, welcome back, we missed you! :)

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  6. It looks like a fabulous trip! The Dali Museum is now on my bucket list. Thanks for sharing some photos.

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  7. Absolutely fabooooolous...as a person who minored in art history...i am in deed salivating and must add that to my list...perhaps i will just get a list from you...smiles...yeah your back...missed ya..but i know it was a well deserved trip. can't wait to see what you do with that fabric...perhaps i shall take off some days this summer to just quilt..i do have a whole lot of vacation that is adding up...smiles.

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  8. Beautiful fabrics, can't wait to see what you make with them. What a beautiful place to visit and such inspiration with all of the art.

    Debbie

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  9. Wow! Sounds like an incredible trip! Thanks for the highlights... love hearing more about Dali and seeing your incredible photos!

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  10. Great pics and info about Dali! I've seen his work in person, but really don't know much about him. So glad you had a good trip.

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  11. go for the pink lips couch... every pool needs one! (or REAL spanish men pouring wine... wink!)

    i was channeling you yesterday... need to send you the before and after photos.. I sewed on the project for 9 hrs

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  12. Now I need to put this on my travel wish list! Amazing. Thanks for sharing your trip. I love the last photo of B in the egg, it's fabulous.

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  13. Very cool. I love seeing the world vicariously through your blog!

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  14. Welcome home! Thanks for sharing your trip with us. I loved seeing and learning about Dali's life and home. Very interesting man.
    Deborah

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  15. I am officially JEALOUS JEALOUS JEALOUS!!! I went to the Dali Museum in St. Peterburg last spring and absolutely adored it. I have always been in awe of his talent and loved reading about his life. He was a true artiste...in all senses of the word!

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  16. Glad you're back! Glad you had a great time. Wonderful Dali story . . . fabulous pictures!

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  17. I am a bit behind reading blogs, so I did't realize until now that you have been to Spain! I've been to all those places also and loved them, especially Cadaqués and the Cap de Creus. Hopefully I will be able to visit Spain again this year! Thanks for sharing your great pics!

    Dagmar

    P.S. Should you ever come to Southern Germany you have to stop by and say Hi!

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  18. All I have to say is AMAZING!! That portrait of his wife/Abe Lincoln is just too inspired. Tell Boo, I am totally with her on this one, I think that a pink lip couches would fit right in with your decor, especially the Pirelli tires... ;)

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  19. Beautiful post and lovely pictures. What a great thing for Boo to be exposed to art and cultures of around the world.
    Thanks for sharing!

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  20. Sorry to miss the chance of meeting you...we were on holiday. Half price Liberty makes it affordable (just!)Wonderful images from Spain...that portrait of Gala?Abe id just amazing...what talent! But your picture of Boo 'escaping' the egg is wonderful too!

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  21. Wow... what does Michael do that you went to Spain for this symposium? The Art Historian in me is intriqued by all of this... The museum has been on my list of places to see for ages!

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  22. Welcome home, V! What an amazing creative jaunt, CELEBRATIONS everywhere!!!! I love Dali and enjoy sharing his amazing works with Noah and seeing his response to them! Boo is so blessed to have you both and to be able to join you on these adventures. Love to you!!!! Em

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  23. Wow, what an incredible trip! Spain looks amazing. My family are there at the moment (Mum, Dad and Sister). They say the food is delicious and the place itself is just so beautiful. Dali's place looks incredible. I would love to go. We have just been to see the Surrealist exhibition in GOMA (Brisbane, where we live) and it was wonderful. I like the idea of layers very much... Oh, and your Liberties are LOVELY! Gasp!

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  24. Welcome home!!!!! Sounds like a fabulous trip!

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  25. Welcome home! That is one interesting post! Thanks for sharing.

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  26. ...I liked Boo popping out of the egg...in the spirit of Dali allright..xo

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  27. Thanks for the lesson on Dali - fascinating! And half price Liberty fabrics, I'm envious!

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