Figueres, Spain: Dali Theatre and Museum

There's one big reason to drop in on Figueres, Spain. That's to pay a little tribute to the town's most famous native son: Salvador Dali. When you think of surrealism, you think of Dali.

The famous artist spent a great deal of his life here (including childhood and the final five years), and it's only fitting that he has a theatre/museum complex named after him. The museum mostly has works by Dali himself, with a few others to round out the exhibits. Dali personally donated the works to his hometown. 

The complex has grown over the years to include adjoining buildings. It has more of Dali's works than any other place in the world. Paintings, sculptures, mechanical devices, whatever - there's never been a more imaginative artist. 

The highlight might be the work in the main foyer of the museum. There's a famous painting that overlooks the area, including Dali's final resting place. If you look at it with your eyes, you see something of an abstract space. But if you take a photo of it, the picture becomes a portrait of Abraham Lincoln. If you know how computer pixels make up an image, then you can figure out the technique. Dali painted a number of small areas that have to be viewed in a certain way to see them come together in a form. (If you don't see Abe, squint a little.) It's great fun.

Here's what Dali said about the place: "I want my museum to be a single block, a labyrinth, a great surrealist object. It will be [a] totally theatrical museum. The people who come to see it will leave with the sensation of having had a theatrical dream." I think we can say he succeeded in that goal.