About Catalunya and “.cat”

Jan 29, 2020 / Topics

Noticed that our website domain is “.cat”? It most definitely was not a coincidence and if we may say so ourselves, we are bit proud of our cute domain. Unique, we thought, turns out that it is a commonly used domain in Catalunya region of Spain. .cat for Catalunya just like .jp for Japan. Catalunya has long history with colourful culture. Internet domain wars put aside, we would like to take this chance to introduce a bit about Catalunya.

Located by borders of France and Andorra, Catalunya is one of Spain’s administrative divisions that represent the country's historical nationalities and regions. Catalunya’s capital city is Barcelona, home of Sagrada Familia Roman Catholic Church by Antoni Gaudi, the breath-taking, though incomplete, UNESCO World Heritage Site. There is also the famous Futbol Club Barcelona as well as a restaurant ‘El Bulli’ allegedly known as the world’s most difficult restaurant to get a table. Beside Antoni Gaudi, the celebrities of art history such as Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali and Joan Miro once resided and worked in Catalunya.

《Dali Atomicus by Philippe Halsman - 1948 》

As mentioned above, Salvador Dali is one of the most well-known Catalan artist. His works are currently highlighted at the group exhibition titled “Surrealism” at The National Art Center, Tokyo. Here are portrait photos of Dali himself with few cats photographed by Philippe Halsman in 1948. These photos appeared in LIFE magazine.

《Dali Atomicus by Philippe Halsman - 1948 》

You can see Halsman’s wife holding the chair up in the air on the left. As Mrs. Halsman is holding the chair up, the countdown starts. 1, 2, 3! Water and cats in the air! 4! Salvador! Jump!! This specific collaboration project by Halsman and Dali apparently took 28 takes and 6 hours to complete this all analogue, non-photoshoped picture of Dali and cats in the air.