{"id":7667,"date":"2025-03-04T10:24:08","date_gmt":"2025-03-04T08:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.salvador-dali.org\/dali-i-gala\/relats\/antoni-pitxot-el-gran-amic-i-collaborador-de-salvador-dali\/"},"modified":"2025-06-30T09:55:33","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T07:55:33","slug":"antoni-pitxot-salvador-dali-great-friend-and-collaborator","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.salvador-dali.org\/en\/dali-and-gala\/stories\/antoni-pitxot-salvador-dali-great-friend-and-collaborator\/","title":{"rendered":"Antoni Pitxot, Salvador Dal\u00ed\u2019s great friend and collaborator"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A family of artists<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Antoni Pitxot was born in Figueres on 5 January 1934 into an artistically inclined family. His uncle, Ramon Pichot, was a prominent painter at the time, whose impressionist paintings impacted and influenced a still young Dal\u00ed. But he was not the only family member to pursue a career in the arts: Antoni\u2019s father, Ricard Pichot, was a cellist and disciple of Pau Casals; his brother, Llu\u00eds Pichot, was a violinist; and his sister, Maria Pichot, was the legendary mezzo-soprano Maria Gay.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Although he was born in Figueres, Antoni Pitxot spent most of his youth in San Sebastian, where he lived from 1946 to 1964. There, he studied drawing under Juan N\u00fa\u00f1ez, the same teacher who had taught Dal\u00ed. In 1955, he took part in his first group show, in San Sebastian. In the following years, he began to make a name for himself in other cities, such as Barcelona, Madrid, Bilbao and Lisbon. His work at that time was of a realist nature, influenced by expressionism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1964, he moved to Cadaqu\u00e9s, and his oeuvre took a dramatic turn. Fascinated by the setting\u2019s mineral landscape, he shifted his attention to the stones around him. These natural elements soon took centre stage in his art, where they were given anamorphic, anthropomorphic, and allegorical forms in an approach with ties to a Western artistic tradition ranging from Italian mannerism to surrealism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around that same time, he also strengthened his family and personal ties with Salvador Dal\u00ed, culminating in a deep friendship and artistic collaboration.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The Pichot Family. \u00a9 Gala-Salvador Dal\u00ed Foundation, Figueres.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Cadaqu\u00e9s as an artistic and vital hub<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The start of Antoni Pitxot\u2019s second artistic life came about when he relocated to Cadaqu\u00e9s in 1966. He established both his residence and his studio in the town, where he continued to live until his death in 2015. In Cadaqu\u00e9s, he found a space to retreat and work. That was also where he would meet and continue to build his friendship with Salvador Dal\u00ed. The surrounding landscape is a common and recurring theme in his work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Cadaqu\u00e9s was doubly meaningful for Antoni Pitxot: it was both the place where he would meet and develop his friendship with Salvador Dal\u00ed and a place of solitude where he could pursue his art and contemplate the mineral landscape that would become the main subject of his work. In fact, this landscape would become something of an obsession for the artist, as several sources from the period attest: \u2018Pitxot represents a fanatical love \u2013 a fetishism \u2013 of the rocks of Cap de Creus, which he reproduces with a sort of hyperrealism and total fetishism.\u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His self-portraits from the early 1970s perfectly encapsulate this fascination with the rocks and mineral environment of the landscapes of this spot on the Costa Brava.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The support and understanding between Pitxot and Dal\u00ed went beyond painting. They spent hours talking about artists such as Watteau, Vel\u00e1zquez, Rembrandt and Gustave Moreau. This mutual influence can be seen in projects such as the exhibition \u2018The Battle of Constantine\u2019, from 1985, inspired by a conversation with Dal\u00ed about the stones of Sa Conca.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Pitxot\u2019s mannequins<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Mannequins were of great importance in Antoni Pitxot\u2019s artwork. They played an especially significant and representative role in his work and installations from his studio in Cadaqu\u00e9s, where they became sculptures for creation in what was a stage for contemplating both the ephemeral and the apparent and real.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The idea of a mannequin in the dual sense of a stand and an icon has infinite connotations, both in the world of the surrealists \u2013 Salvador Dal\u00ed, Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray all bear witness to this \u2013 and throughout art history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Antoni Pitxot\u2019s mannequins, installed and sustained in an intentionally simple way with wires or, sometimes, nothing at all to hold them in place, are the definition of an ancestral anthropomorphic accumulation that would, fleetingly, appear in his studio for contemplation. They are considered neither sculptures nor final works, nor are they bodies invented for objectification in itself. Instead, they are a fundamental part of a process, a step towards the representation that the spectator will perceive through the artist\u2019s various canvases. In fact, they are works that exude poetry, albeit a poetry anchored in reality and timelessness, as they refer to both ancient myths and contemporary creations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Pitxot and the Mnemosyne Mannequin. \u00a9 Gala-Salvador Dal\u00ed Foundation, Figueres.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Contribution to the creation of the Dal\u00ed Theatre-Museum<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

One of the most fruitful moments of the special connection between Antoni Pitxot and Salvador Dal\u00ed came about during the creation of the Dal\u00ed Theatre-Museum in Figueres, which was inaugurated on 28 September 1974. Pitxot, who had become a great ally and collaborator of the artist, supported him throughout the process. Today, the museum\u2019s second floor is home to a permanent display of a selection of Pitxot\u2019s work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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In 1975, working together, the two artists created the famous \u2018grotesque monsters\u2019 in the Theatre-Museum\u2019s interior courtyard. Inspired by Italian mannerism, these sculptures are made from a variety of natural materials, such as stones, branches, snails and skeletons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Salvador Dal\u00ed dedicated a permanent gallery to Pitxot on the second floor of his museum, featuring a selection of his main works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pitxot became the director of the Dal\u00ed Theatre-Museum, combining that role with his own career as a painter. He was also appointed a trustee for life and second vice-president of the Gala-Salvador Dal\u00ed Foundation and went on to become a key figure in the preservation of Dal\u00ed\u2019s legacy. In this period, he received various distinctions and tributes, including the Gold Medal of Merit for Achievement in the Fine Arts, awarded by His Majesty King Juan Carlos in 2004.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The fa\u00e7ade of the inner courtyard of the Theatre-Museum. \u00a9 Gala-Salvador Dal\u00ed Foundation, Figueres.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Melit\u00f3 \u201cMeli\u201d Casals. Antoni Pitxot and Salvador Dal\u00ed in the room dedicated to Pitxot at the Dal\u00ed Theatre-Museum in Figueres, 1975. \u00a9 Melit\u00f3 Casals \u201cMeli\u201d \/ Gala-Salvador Dal\u00ed Foundation, Figueres, 2025<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Melit\u00f3 \u201cMeli\u201d Casals. Salvador Dal\u00ed and Antoni Pitxot at the Dal\u00ed Theatre-Museum in Figueres, 1975<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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Other stories<\/h2>\n

Keep discovering new stories and dive into fresh perspectives on Salvador Dal\u00ed and his fascinating universe.
\nTexts, images, and insights that reveal unexpected details, revealing contexts, and surprising connections.
\nEach story opens a different window into his world: a work, an idea, an obsession, a vision.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n\n \n \n

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