Sunday, September 25, 2011

Salvador Dali Museum


The design of the newest Salvador Dali Museum building in St. Petersburg, designed by the HOK Architectural Design Firm, is a tribute to the surrealist art of Dali. The Museum houses the largest number of art works by Dali outside of Europe.


The St. Petersburg Dali Museum, which opened in January of this year, is the third location of much of the Dali art works collected by A. Reynolds Morse & Eleanor R. Morse which began in 1942 the year of their marriage.


Photographs weren't allowed in the museum proper, but I took these photos from the interior lobby and exterior of the building.



Although I'm not often a fan of surrealistic art, I came away from the museum with a new appreciation of Salvador Dali's art which was impressive in originality, skill, symbolism, and detail.



Both images of Dali's art are taken from Wikipedia and constitute fair use of art images of low resolution to illustrate this educational article about the artist and museum here on this blog. To learn more about Dali, his art, and the museum please click on the various links to read more details.


There were two tropical grotto's with misting systems (note steam on right side of photograph) at the entrance to the museum and gardens on the exterior, but it was raining and very crowded so I just took this one photo. Don't you just know the grid work in the first photo will show up in some of my art work real soon, maybe even some symbolism. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

13 comments:

  1. Pretty neat Linda- I did not know that museum was there.
    You never know what will influence your work.

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  2. Love the architecture. I miss having art museums nearby. This sounds like fun.

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  3. I'm a big Dali fan, what a great place! There is a small gallery here that has a few of his pieces, they are so amazing, I loved his elephant sculptures!

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  4. That was new to me. I loved that glass bubble wall.
    It is always such a shame that you can't take pictures inside but I understand.

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  5. Don't care much for Dali, but do like the beautiful grotto.

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  6. Thank you for your tour of this wonderful place. I love museums and this is a special one as it is devoted to a particular artist.

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  7. What a beautiful museum--great architecture. I wonder why they don't let you take pictures of the art work. Dali's work can be fun to look at.

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  8. i am sooo jealous! when we were in St. Pete for NCECA in March. we wanted to go but just didn't have time. we had to choose between Dali and the permanent Chihuly exhibition at the Morean Arts Center. we went for Chihuly. Next time!

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  9. Hi Meredith, thanks, it's only been open since January.

    Hi Teresa, thanks, well it was about an hour drive, but close enough.

    Hi Tracey, thanks, the employees were very helpful explaining a lot of the symbolism behind his work and all the details, he was an amazing artist and very intelligent to have worked out the details of some of the paintings, truly amazing.

    Hi Patti, thanks, the building was amazing and the rain ran down in rivulets when it rains so beautiful to see.

    Hi Gigi, thanks, I didn't care for him before this visit much either, but I had heard the building was unique and I love modern buildings so it was a real treat, but he was ahead of his time with his art and really very masterful.

    Hi Charlene, thanks, yes I can't imagine one couple collecting so much of his work, but I guess they were real fans.

    Hi Linda, thanks, I think most museums don't allow photos as flashes can damage the works I've heard, plus if I posted photos perhaps folks wouldn't go and the owners of the art have rights to the art. There was some amazing works there for sure.

    Hi Michele, thanks, Gary heard on the TV that the museum was free so we went, then we got there and it was only for free for that county, but the free line was so long we wouldn't have waited anyway so we paid to go in, it was really crowded because of the free day which was a drawback, but still worth it.

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  10. I read an interview of his where he patiently explained that Dali could not die because the world needed Dali. Opps, well....
    I still LOVE his work. ~Mary

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  11. Hi Mary, thanks, I guess he was devastated after his wife died and he went into heart failure and eventually died, but his work lives on.

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  12. Beautiful museum and art work! Thanks for the great tour!

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  13. Hi Marguerite, thanks, yeah it was great fun going there, I love the architecture and the views from the windows.

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