I almost went to Barcelona today.

Today, I visited the Dali exhibition with Faye. It was definitely an eye-opener: there's more to Dali's works than the melting timepieces. In fact, Dali dallied in art in almost all media: paint, photography, sculptures, jewellery, fashion, and even film and moving art. Check out this collaborative piece he did with Walt Disney here. (If that link doesn't work go to youtube and search for "Destino"; duration should be 6:47.) He also did a film titled "Un Chien Andalou" ("An Andalusian Dog") which was just.....morbid and violent. Come on, the film opened with a scene of some guy slicing a lady's eyeball with a sharpened razor! Speaking of which, Dali's works were very sexually charged, lots of innuendos and imageries. Interesting.

The exhibition was really, really extensive. I attacked it with an enthusiasm that waned after walking through rooms and mazes of replicas and information. It's like sitting through 10 consecutive history lessons, throw in some art appreciation, and a walkathon. Add to that throngs of people....... Really, I was amazed that I managed to hold out till the end. 3 whole hours! And yet Faye and I agreed if we can afford to we ought to go back again, mainly because we didn't have the mental energy for the last bits.

My favourite pieces (that I took note of before the brain-drain):

"The Slave Market With Disappearing Bust Of Voltaire" -- this piece is really interesting: it took me quite a while to find Voltaire, and the secret is to look at the 2 women at the corner of your eye!

"Nostalgic Echo" -- there are repeated shapes in the whole painting, of which the most obvious is the silhouette of the girl skipping.

Dali's jewellery pieces were amazing, too, but I'm really too lazy to google images to post up.

I remember a few years ago I was really interested in the works of Antonio Gaudí, another Spanish artist (architect, in fact) who did amazing buildings like the Casa Milà in Barcelona (where else?) as shown below.

Then, I had read from the Tourism Spain website that there were tours of Gaudí's architectural wonders..........conducted on scooters!! That partly fired up my drive to get my license. (Yeah we all know how well that went..... :p)

I will go to Barcelona, one day.