Magia y Realidad: A day with Dalí on the Shanghai Metro

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Meritxell Sanz

Head of Modern Foreign Languages

Recently, our Spanish IB pupils enjoyed a unique underground Salvador Dali experience. This exhibition takes paintings out of their natural context, breaking the rules and creating an unexpected encounter between the art and the public. As such, metro passengers on lines 7 and 12 find themselves slowing their pace to appreciate Dali’s artwork. This was exactly what happened to us. We found ourselves fully immersed in the ground-breaking works of this artist!

Prior to the exhibition, our pupils hosted and presented their research on the famous Spanish artist’s life and artworks including: ‘The Persistence of Memory’, ‘Galatea of the Spheres’, ‘The Burning Giraffe’, ‘Tuna Fishing’, ‘Soft Constructions with Boiled Beans’ and ‘The Metamorphosis of Narcissus’. Through their research, the pupils also learned about Surrealism and its context in Spanish history.

During our IB lessons we have been studying the importance of the arts, health and tourism, with topics including cultural identity, new experiences, living with art, the Mediterranean diet and differences of culture. These topics were to be investigated during our trip.

Following the presentations in class, we set off on our adventure! We headed to the Salvador Dalí Exhibition at Middle Longhua Metro Station.

The exhibit features 34 full-scale reproductions on display around the station. The works are accompanied by a short description of their meaning and their significance depending on when Dali them. Many works refer to his wife, Gala, or are an homage to another artist or creator. The pupils had the opportunity to put their reading comprehension to the test as they read the descriptions too.  

After the exhibition, we made our way to an authentic Spanish restaurant where we were served authentic Spanish delicacies like albondigas, croquetas, pan con tomate, jamón, queso, setas, tortilla de patata, gambas al ajillo, chorizo al vino as well as some delicious desserts, like flan y choclate con churros. Through this meal, the pupils learned about the heritage and origins of foods that come from different regions of Spain. To add to the authentic experience, the pupils had to practice their Spanish language speaking skills by ordering food, identifying and talking about cultural similarities and differences. The décor on the walls — movie posters, pictures of famous football stars and more — also served as great discussion prompts to help them build conversational fluency. Fue un dia maravilloso!

‘’The trip was very exciting, and it was nice to collaborate with my classmates. I enjoyed exploring different areas of Spanish culture that I’d never experienced before, and it was nice to be able to experience this with my peers and teachers.”  Elisa aka Aaliyaa

‘’I personally found it a captivating method to comprehend the history and philosophy behind Salvador Dali.”  Manolito aka Justin

‘‘The food was scrumptious, I loved it! This experience gave me a deeper understanding of the Spanish culture, I hope we can have more chances to have an experience like this in the future.”  Cati aka Catherine

‘’We believed it was a very memorable experience for all of us.” Maria y Sergio aka Merlin and Spencer

‘’This trip not only expanded our Spanish knowledge but also our general knowledge regarding art, history and Spanish culture as a whole.”  Didac y Joselito aka Daniel and Joe

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