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A Visit To The Dali’ Museum – St. Petersburg

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The Helical Staircase in The Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida

Despite being a photographer for years, I’ve never had much more than a passing interest in art, and artists, in general.  Sure, I’m aware of a lot of the famous names.  We’ve attended galleries and shows, and even a few art auctions on cruise ships.

The Dalí (Salvador Dalí Museum). St. Petersburg, Florida
The Dalí (Salvador Dalí Museum). St. Petersburg, Florida

After visiting The Dali’ – the museum dedicated to art by Salvador Dali’ – I now know that Dali’ was much more than the guy with the weird mustache that painted even weirder pictures.  After reading and learning about the surrealist movement and the motivations and inspirations behind it, it starts – starts – to make a bit more sense.  I have to believe that substances of some kind must have been involved.

“The Hallucinogenic Toreador” The Dalí (Salvador Dalí Museum). St. Petersburg, Florida
The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus. The Dalí (Salvador Dalí Museum). St. Petersburg, Florida
The Dalí (Salvador Dalí Museum). St. Petersburg, Florida
“The Ecumenical Council” The Dalí (Salvador Dalí Museum). St. Petersburg, Florida

Admittedly, though, seeing Dali’s art in person doesn’t really make it easier to understand or explain the imagination that must have been crucial to developing the ideas and concepts that resulted in this work.  But that is what genius is.

We missed by a week being able to see work by another famous artist – Picasso.  A Picasso exhibition was opening the week after our visit.  That would also have been interesting, but will have to wait for another time.

Dali’s Galacidalacidesoxiribunucleicacid (Homage to Crick and Watson). The Dalí (Salvador Dalí Museum). St. Petersburg, Florida

Visiting both the Dali’ and the Chihuly museums is a strong reminder that there are lots of fine and worthy galleries everywhere.  Charlotte even has a number of them, and we need to keep that in mind as we think about things to do and places to go.

“The Ecumenical Council” The Dalí (Salvador Dalí Museum). St. Petersburg, Florida

One of the other positive things I found in both museums is that in each of them, signs said that “Photography is encouraged!”  Of course they want you to tag them on social media, but that’s OK.  It was a welcome approach in this age of restrictions and paranoia.

The Helical Staircase in The Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida

2 thoughts on “A Visit To The Dali’ Museum – St. Petersburg”

  1. I did not know the encouraged photography. I’ll have to remember that. There is a couple galleries in Fort Collins that i need to keep better tabs on make some shows I think would interest me. It looks like he did very few small works. Impressive.

    1. Not all museums are camera friendly. In fact, a number of them have banned photos because of “selfie incidents.” Of course tripods, monopods and selfie sticks are not permitted.

      Dali’s earlier works were smaller, but as he got into surrealism and became more famous it looks like he subscribed to the Bigger is Better school. The detail in the large pieces are incredible, though. They need all that surface area!

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