The art lover's guide to travel: from Dali's home in Cadaques to Marrakesh's Jardin Majorelle

The National

22-04-2025

There are guidebooks for the dutiful traveller, itineraries for the well-prepared. But for those who chase art not as decoration but as a way of seeing, as the critic John Berger might describe it, the journey demands something else entirely. It is not about landmarks, nor about ticking off masterpieces, but about stepping into the hum of creative energy – to places charged with the pulse of imagination. From the shores of the Caspian to the alleys of the Catalan coast, these are the destinations where art does not sit behind glass – it spills into streets, into lives and into the rhythm of the everyday. The rugged coastline of Catalonia, in northeastern Spain, harbours Cadaques like a dirty secret – a white labyrinth of narrow streets cascading towards the Mediterranean. This smuggler's cove-turned-bohemian enclave didn't merely host artists – it transformed them. Salvador Dali, born nearby in Figueres, found in its vivid, light and wind-sculpted landscape the perfect canvas for his fevered imagination. Joan Miro and Pablo Picasso similarly retreated here, drawing inspiration from its beauty and azure skies. The pilgrimage to Dali's home in Port Lligat, just beyond Cadaques, reveals the relationship between the artist and this landscape. The house is a surrealist assemblage – a warren of rooms that grew organically over decades, filled with objects that would later populate his paintings. Visitors must book in advance, but the reward is profound – standing in his studio, you can grasp the genesis of those melting clocks. Bergen's Kode represents a radical reimagining of what a museum can be – not a single monolithic institution, but a cultural archipelago spanning four main buildings along the octagonal lake Lille Lungegardsvann, in the heart of Norway's most beautiful coastal city. This atomised approach invites visitors to experience the city as they move between collections of artists such as Edvard Munch and Nikolai Astrup, plus international modernists, as well as design, craft and music rooms on permanent exhibition. Beyond Kode, Bergen embraces art as a public birthright. The street art scene thrives in Skostredet, where Norwegian and international artists have transformed mundane walls into visual manifestos. Meanwhile, USF Verftet, a converted sardine factory, houses studios, galleries and performance spaces where Bergen's contemporary creative community pushes boundaries across disciplines. Between all the gallery visits, take time to escape to Troldhaugen, Edvard Grieg's former home, where lunchtime piano recitals bring his compositions alive in the very spaces that inspired them. Some cities inherit their artistic identity, Abu Dhabi built its own. Saadiyat Island is a case study in ambition, a cultural oasis engineered from scratch. Today's visitor finds the island's jewel, Jean Nouvel's Louvre Abu Dhabi, fully realised – its remarkable 'rain of light' dome creating a microclimate of dappled sunshine. Inside, you can expect a collection of works drawn from Louvre's vast global collection. Running until May 25, the gallery's star exhibition, Kings and Queens of Africa, displays a greater range of African regal attire than has ever been displayed in the region, alongside the contemporary African art that these objects and symbols continue to guide. The future promises even more: Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, a vast, sculptural explosion; Zaha Hadid's fluidly designed performing arts centre; and the Zayed National Museum, a tribute to heritage through contemporary form. And out on the streets of the city, find the Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial, which has studded Etihad Square and beyond with yet more dazzling, daring works. Houston defies expectations, countering its reputation for sprawl and oil wealth with one of America's most thoughtfully curated artistic experiences. The Menil Collection, housed in Renzo Piano's first American building, represents the visionary patronage of John and Dominique de Menil. Its deliberately residential scale creates an intimate experience rarely found in major museums – artworks feel discovered rather than displayed, with natural light washing over Flemish masterpieces, African sculptures and Byzantine icons. The campus's crowning achievement, however, is the Rothko Chapel. This octagonal sanctuary, containing 14 of Mark Rothko's most sombre canvases, transcends religious and cultural boundaries. Visitors speak in hushed tones, if at all, as the massive dark canvases seem to pulse with contained energy. Few places blur the line between art and spirituality so completely. Once you're done with contemplation, pay tribute to native Texas art form at the peerless Pit Room only a short walk away, for barbecue that will bring you towards transcendence just as a Rothko might. Away from Mexico City, deep in Mexico's subtropical rainforest, where waterfalls cascade through dense vegetation, stands humanity's most ambitious attempt to reconcile architecture with untamed nature. Las Pozas (The Pools) represent the singular vision of Edward James – British poet, eccentric, and patron of surrealism – who spent more than $5 million (equivalent to $40 million today) creating a concrete dreamscape that seems simultaneously ancient and futuristic. The garden's origin is as fantastical as its appearance. After his orchid collection froze in an unprecedented cold snap, James dedicated himself to creating 'flowers that couldn't die', constructing more than 30 surrealist concrete structures across eight hectares of jungle. Las Pozas is neither ruin nor monument, but a hallucination given form – towering staircases that lead nowhere, flowers sculpted from stone, archways opening on to nothingness. Reaching Las Pozas requires commitment; the nearest airport is in San Luis Potosi, followed by a four-and-a-half hour drive through the Sierra Madre. Local guides are essential to navigating the site safely, particularly during the rainy season when paths become slippery and waterfalls surge from spectacular heights. But the journey's challenges only enhance the reward. Few visitors return unchanged from this concrete manifestation of surrealist imagination. At the end of the 19th century, Baku experienced a dramatic transformation, catapulting from a minor outpost of the Russian empire to a metropolis, a surge driven by the world's first oil boom. Newly wealthy oil barons, determined to announce their arrival on the world stage, hired Europe's finest architects to line the city's boulevards with ornate facades. With neither tradition nor restraint to temper ambition, the result was an architectural free-for-all where Islamic, European and Russian styles collided joyfully. This Belle Epoque extravagance survives in the Icheri Sheher (Old City) and surrounding districts, where art nouveau masterpieces hide in plain sight. The Ismailiyya Palace's intricate stonework echoes Venetian Gothic while incorporating Islamic motifs. Nearby, the Mitrofanov Residence's sinuous ironwork and organic forms embody the movement's inimitable philosophy. Most spectacular is the Taghiyev Residence – now the National History Museum – with its eclectic rooms each representing different historical styles, a physical encyclopaedia of world architecture. Buenos Aires reimagines itself as naturally as it breathes. Take Palermo Soho – this formerly working-class neighbourhood has been transformed into Latin America's most compelling design district without sacrificing its essential porteno character. Nineteenth-century 'casa standard' have been reimagined as concept stores and galleries, while street artists have turned corrugated security shutters into canvases, creating an open-air museum that changes daily. The city moves to its own rhythm; part European grandeur, part Latin American grit. The Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires anchors this artistic energy, its collection spanning Frida Kahlo's self-portraits, Antonio Berni's social realism and contemporary Argentine visionaries. Across town in La Boca district, the Usina del Arte transforms a defunct power plant into a cultural dynamo, its industrial bones now a backdrop for exhibitions. The Fundacion Proa offers cutting-edge contemporary art with panoramic views of the old port. It reopened on April 5 after months of renovation with a landmark exhibition on women in modern design. Jardin Majorelle stands as an oasis of ordered beauty within Marrakesh's intoxicating chaos – a hectare compound where cobalt blue structures punctuate a botanical collection of extraordinary diversity. Against these vivid primary colours, rare cacti, exotic bamboos and water lilies create living compositions that change with the light. Fountains provide both visual focus and cooling respite from the North African heat, their gentle sounds masking the city's perpetual honk and hustle. The garden's history intertwines artistic sensibilities across cultures and decades. French painter Jacques Majorelle pruned it for more than 40 years beginning in 1924, introducing the distinctive blue – now known as Majorelle Blue – that would become its signature. After falling into disrepair following Majorelle's death, the garden faced demolition until fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent bought it in 1980 and lovingly restored it.