BARCELONA.-The heads of the Fundación Gala-Salvador Dalí have announced today the acquisition of two paintings made by the painter in his earlier life. During the ceremony, the General Secretary of the Foundation, Lluís Peñuelas, also declared that in 2007, the total number of visitors to the Collection based in Figueres reached 2.5 million.

Concerning the two paintings, Antoni Pitxot, Director of the Dali Theatre-Museum, has explained that one of them is a small oil on canvas, measuring just 14.5 by 18 cms. The painting is titled “Dutch Interior” which the Catalonian painter made around 1915 starting from a reproduction made by Manuel Benedito, published in Museum magazine.

Pitxot also said that the painting was made when Dali was only 10 years old but that the painter already showed talent. As an anecdote, Pitxot added that Dali’s family received the painting with great joy and was hung in the family dining room. “It’s a historic piece,” the expert concluded.

The other work of art that will be on view at the museum in Figueres this summer is “Portrait of Grandmother Anna Stitching, Pitxot has said that this painting is more relevant than the other, measuring 49.3 por 62.7 cms., dates from 1920 in blue tones and having the painter’s grandmother as the subject.