The exhibition

Gala Dalí Castle in Púbol reopens its doors this year with the presentation of the latest work acquired by the Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí: The Mill. Cadaqués Landscape, c. 1923.

This painting reveals a Dalí who was searching for his own style and constantly experimenting; a Dalí once again focused on the landscape, a recurring theme throughout his career, seen, on this occasion, from inside.

This little-known work was displayed for the first time during the anthological exhibitions organised to celebrate the centenary of the artist’s birth, and it now forms part of the Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí’s important collection of works from the artist’s early period.

The Mill. Cadaqués Landscape, c. 1923

The Mill. Cadaqués Landscape is a representative example of the young Dalí’s pictures of Cadaqués, the result of his constant experimentation and a mix and convergence of artistic styles, notable for the presence of an early Cubism, the superimposition of images, and a sober palette reminiscent of Juan Gris. During this period, Dalí was painting from nature but evolving towards Impressionism, certain elements of Pointillism, Fauvism, Futurism, Purism and Vibrationism to arrive here at an incipient Cubism. The impression the landscape made on him from a very early age, and which he never forgot no matter how much time he spent away from it, is the great subject of this painting. A landscape that determined him, configured him and enabled him to express his feelings and his artistic concerns his whole life long.

That Dalí had an unconditional, all but obsessive love of his landscape is well known. He lived in it, he theorized it, he painted it. As Josep Pla, who was also from the Empordà, wrote:

‘The discovery of the landscape of the Alt Empordà, which has been, is and will be the obsession of his life […] He carries it through the world with an inexhaustible persistence because he holds it in his memory with an almost painful – and delicious – obsessive precision.’

Josep Pla, Homenots. Quarta sèrie. En Obra completa, vol. 29, Destino, Barcelona, 1975, p. 173 y 175.

SEE TECHNICAL DATA OF THIS WORK

Video

“I believe that the personality of the artist develops and asserts itself through the struggles it has to undergo.” Henri Matisse

J. Subias, ‘Salvador Dalí’, Alfar, La Coruña, May 1924, p. 15

Works related to the painting on show

  • The Mill. Cadaqués Landscape, c.1923 © Salvador Dalí, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Figueres, 2019
  • Salvador Dalí painting Port Alguer, c. 1923. Image Rights of Salvador Dalí reserved. Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Figueres. 2019
  • Two Girls, c.1922 © Salvador Dalí, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Figueres, 2019
  • The Jorneta Stream, c.1923 © Salvador Dalí, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Figueres, 2019
  • The Jorneta, c.1923 © Salvador Dalí, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Figueres, 2019
  • Port Alguer, c.1923 © Salvador Dalí, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Figueres, 2019
  • Cadaqués. View of Cadaqués from the Creus Tower, c.1923 © Salvador Dalí, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Figueres, 2019
  • Untitled. Landscape with olive trees, c.1923 © Salvador Dalí, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Figueres, 2019
  • The Mill. Cadaqués Landscape, c.1923 on show at Gala Dalí Castle in Púbol

Why visit the exhibition?

  • This oil painting, a landscape of Cadaqués seen from inland, reflects Dalí's continuous experimentation as well as his technical mastery in the search for his own style. As the painter would write years later, “the only first class in painting is REALIST PAINTING”. Montse Aguer Director of the Dalí Museums
  • The colours white, black, sienna and olive green are present in "The Mill. Cadaqués Landscape"; Cubist tones inspired by Juan Gris that contrast with the white of the foam and the blue of the sea.

    Carme Ruiz Chief curator