Visual itinerary
Follow The Madonna of Portlligat on its journey around the world through this storymap, which will allow you to follow the path it has taken since its conception. Follow the footsteps until its arrival at the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres on September 17, 2025, a day that marks a key milestone: the return of the artwork to Spain 73 years after its first stay.
From the Vatican to l’Empordà: The Birth of a Masterpiece
On 23 November 1949, Dalí is granted an audience with Pope Pius XII and shows him his first version of The Madonna of Portlligat. The artist seeks to obtain the Pope’s permission to marry Gala via the Church. A year later, in the summer of 1950, he retreats to his studio in Portlligat with a clear objective: to turn that first, small-format Madonna into a monumental painting, to which he will dedicate five months of work.
Salvador Dali with The Madonna of Portlligat (first version). Bettmann / Getty Images
Salvador Dalí, The Madonna of Portlligat (first version), 1949, Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Carstairs Gallery
The painting is officially presented to the public for the first time at the Carstairs Gallery in New York.
Mark Kauffman, Installing The Madonna of Portlligat painting at the Carstairs Gallery in New York. Life Magazine Archive
Galerie André Weil
The painting is presented for the first time in Europe at a solo exhibition.
Salvador Dali exhibit at Galerie André Weil. Keystone-France / Getty Images
What Does It Take to Move a Monumental Painting?
As it is a large work, The Madonna of Portlligat had to be transported by lorry from Portlligat to Le Havre, and from there, boarded the liner Liberté, bound for New York. Once in New York, a new difficulty arose: the work would not fit through the gallery door, much less the elevator. Finally, as can be seen in the extraordinary reportage by photojournalist Mark Kauffman, one of Life magazine’s most veteran reporters, the work was hoisted with ropes to the top floor of the building, under the watchful eye of the artist, who meticulously monitored the entire process.
Mark Kauffman, Installing The Madonna of Portlligat painting at the Carstairs Gallery in New York. Life Magazine Archive.
Installing The Madonna of Portlligat painting at the Carstairs Gallery in New York.
The Lefevre Gallery
Monographic Dalí exhibition where The Madonna of Portlligat is exhibited together with Exploding Raphaelesque Head (1951) and Atomic Leda (1947-1949), among other paintings.
Salvador Dali and his wife Gala at the Lefever Gallery in London. Album / TopFoto
Kunsthalle Basel
The painting in question is shown in a group exhibit entitled “Phantastische Kunst des XX. Jahrhunderts” [Fantastic Art of the 20th Century].
“1ª Bienal Hispanoamericana de Arte”
The Madonna of Portlligat was first shown in Spain in 1952, at the “1ª Bienal Hispanoamericana de Arte” (1st Hispano-American Art Biennal).
Visitors at the 1st Hispano-American Art Biennial. ARCM. Cristóbal Portillo.
La Madona arrives in Italy
A monographic exhibition on the painter, which includes The Madonna of Portlligat, travels to three Italian cities over the course of five months: Roma, at the Sale dell’Aurora Pallavicini, Venice, at the Palazzo delle Prigioni, and Milan, at the Sala delle Cariatidi of the Palazzo Reale.
The Palazzo Reale in Milan, Inspiration for the Dalí Theatre-Museum
In 1954, at Milan’s Palazzo Reale, more specifically, in the Sala delle Cariatidi, in ruins after the WWII bombings, a monographic exhibit of Salvador Dalí’s paintings was held, among them, The Madonna of Portlligat.
This hall’s dilapidated appearance inspired Dalí to create the Figueres Theatre-Museum in the city’s derelict theatre, which had been in ruins since the Spanish Civil War.
Salvador Dalí Exhibit at Milan’s Palazzo Reale. Fototecnica Publifoto
Salvador Dalí Exhibit at Milan’s Palazzo Reale. Fototecnica Publifoto
Palais des Beaux-Arts
A few years before the artist’s death, The Madonna arrived in Charleroi to be part of the exhibition “Picasso, Miró, Dalí : évocations d’Espagne” that takes place at the Palais des Beaux-Arts.
Japan acquires the artwork
Following the acquisition of the work by Japan, the work is exhibited on a traveling basis during this period. It passes through several museums: Minami Art Museum, Mitsukoshi Museum of Art, Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, Mori Art Museum, Morohashi Museum of Modern Art.
High Museum of Art
The exhibition “Dalí: The Late Work” highlights the importance of the Empordà artist’s later work, as of the 1940s.
The Madonna returns to Figueres
The Madonna of Portlligat is exhibited for the second time in Spain, at the Dalí Theatre-Museum. The Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí presents a monographic exhibition that delves into the work and highlights aspects that have been little explored until now.