Introduction

The Madonna of Portlligat. An Oneiric Explosion

After 73 years abroad and thanks to an exceptional loan arising from collaboration with the Fukuoka Art Museum (Japan), the Dalí Theatre-Museum hosts this key work in the painter’s career.

With The Madonna of Portlligat (c. 1951), Dalí invites us to dream: a poetic and luminous response to the conflicts of the modern world.

The Madonna of Portlligat is a key work in the painter’s nuclear mystical stage, where he fuses art, science and spirituality, with Gala, his wife, at the centre. Considered a masterpiece by Salvador Dalí, it is an allegorical painting with powerful iconography and a striking composition. The work synthesizes his artistic evolution, from Surrealism to nuclear mysticism—a new stage in his career where he combines nuclear physics, religion, and a return to classicism to express his vision of the world.

The work is not only a synthesis of his evolution as a painter, but also offers us a gateway to his particular universe, where reality and dream, religion and science, weight and lightness coexist in absolute harmony.

“The old Dalí is gone. That was the nightmare period with confusions and suffering, without elevation, and he used a lot of greens and reds and black for expression. Here in the new Dalí, you see more blues and yellows, the serene colors. This is because Dalí is now leading in mysticism, in a mystical direction.” *

SALVADOR DALÍ
Wambly Bald, “Dali suggests dreams as cure for worries”, New York Post, New York, 21/12/1950

Visual itinerary

Map of a traveling work.

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Discover the fascinating journey of The Madonna of Portlligat, one of Salvador Dalí’s most emblematic works, through this interactive storymap. Delve into its unique trajectory until it reaches the Dalí Theatre-Museum, where it stars in a temporary exhibition that invites you to rediscover the Empordà genius from a new perspective.

The Madonna Expanded:

Approaching a Masterpiece.

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The Madonna of Portlligat from a different perspective. Discover what is hidden behind each detail, its symbolism, the technique and the story behind the piece.

 “I aspire for the Madonna, the model for which was my wife, to be a condensation of all that there is of wondrous virtue, of spiritual strength, of colour and of geology.”

SALVADOR DALÍ
José María Massip, “Dalí, hoy”, Destino, Barcelona, 01/04/1950

Official Publication

The Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí presents The Madonna of Portlligat. An Oneiric Explosion, a monograph dedicated to one of the artist’s most iconic works. The publication explores Dalí’s personal and artistic context to understand how he shaped this great creation.

Drawing on research by the Centre for Dalinian Studies, the book delves into the period known as “nuclear mysticism”. It illustrates how Dalí blended Surrealism, the scientific advances, and his own spiritual quest to create a unique image of his time. The book also explores lesser-known aspects of the work.

On sale at the Fundació Dalí shops. Available in Catalan, Spanish, French and English.

As a preview, you can download ↓ the first chapter and delve into Dalí’s universe!

AUDIO-VISUAL

Title: The Madonna of Portlligat. An Oneiric Explosion
Year: 2025
Production: Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí
Director: David Pujol
Script: David Pujol and Montse Aguer, with the collaboration of Lucia Moni
Editor: Jordi Muñoz Salló
Content and Documentation Coordinator: Lucia Moni
Assistant Content and Documentation Coordinator: Maria Carreras

In 1949, Dalí painted the first version of The Madonna of Portlligat and showed it to Pope Pius XII. A year later, he created a second version, of larger dimensions. Aware that he could not paint it anywhere else, he shuttered himself away in Portlligat, in his studio on the coast, which became the background and setting for the work.

Inspired by the great masters of the Renaissance, this creation began a fascinating journey: from Portlligat to New York and from London to Paris, among many other destinations. Exhibited in such remarkable places as the Sala delle Cariatidi [Hall of the Caryatids] in Milan’s Palazzo Reale, in ruins after the Second World War, The Madonna shows its power as a painting capable of transforming spaces and captivating gazes.