Dalí Paris

Dalí Paris is a museum devoted to Salvador Dalí at 11 rue Poulbot in Montmartre, Paris's 18th arrondissement, about 50 metres from Place du Tertre. It shows more than 300 sculptures, engravings and drawings, the largest group of Dalí sculpture and engraving in France. It suits Montmartre visitors with an hour to spare and anyone curious about Surrealism beyond the famous paintings.

The museum opened in 1991 as the Espace Dalí, founded by the Italian collector and gallerist Beniamino Levi, who worked with Dalí from the 1960s and published his bronzes. The galleries are built into the old stone quarries beneath Montmartre. After four months of works the museum reopened on 13 April 2018 with a new route, under the name Dalí Paris. Older guidebooks that mention the Espace Dalí refer to the same place.

The collection, drawn from Levi's private holdings, centres on Dalí's sculptures, engravings, lithographs and book illustrations. His recurring images are all here: soft watches, distorted furniture, long-legged elephants and crutches. Look for The Persistence of Memory reworked as a bronze sculpture, the Space Elephant and a version of the Mae West lips sofa. The engravings include illustrations for literary works.

The rooms are compact and dimly lit, with a soundtrack playing through the visit. Temporary exhibitions sometimes place Dalí beside artists from his circle or explore one theme from his work. The current show is Dalí x Rubinstein: Crossed Illusions, and a ground-floor space pairs Dalí, Miró and Picasso with contemporary artists. The shop sells prints and books on Surrealism.

A full-price adult ticket costs €16 and reduced tickets €13 or €11; children under 8 enter free, and the audio guide costs €3. The museum opens every day from 10:00 to 18:00, with last entry about 30 minutes before closing. Book online for weekends and the summer, when Montmartre is at its busiest, and arrive at opening for the quietest rooms. A visit takes about an hour.

The gallery is in a basement reached by stairs, so access is limited for wheelchair users.

The nearest metro stations are Abbesses (line 12), about 500 metres away, and Lamarck – Caulaincourt (line 12); from Anvers (line 2), take the funicular, about 400 metres from the museum. The painters of Place du Tertre work next door, the Musée de Montmartre is about 250 metres away and the Sacré-Cœur about 300 metres.