Traveling around the county as we do, we really appreciate visiting different museums and historical places. St. Petersburg, Florida has the absolutely fabulous Salvador Dali Museum. It houses the largest collection of Dali’s works outside of Europe. The museum’s collection includes 96 oil paintings, over 100 watercolors and drawings and 1,300 graphics, photographs, sculptures and objet d’art.
The museum is the home of 7 of the 18 ‘masterwork’ paintings by Dahl, the most of any museum in the world. Other than the Dali Theater-Museum in his home town of Figureres, Catalonia, Spain which Dali created himself, this Museum has the world’s largest collection of Dali’s works.
We were really amazed at the diversity of Dali’s works. There are those who say once you have seen three or four Dali’s the rest are all alike. Nothing could be more false than that. His range does go from A to Z and everything in between. You would think that perhaps you were seeing art work by a number of different artists when in reality it was all Dali! and truly unbelievable. Visitors come from all over the world to visit this museum. We have visited the Museum 3 times and can’t wait to return.’
They have their Avant-garde Studies which is an online publication by The Dali annually that aims to inspire and inform the public about Dali’s work, the avant-garde movements that shaped him as an artist and the impact Dali’s life on the avant-garde still to this day with talks and conferences.
The Museum’s Education and Activities department is a vital link between the permanent and visiting collection and the many community that they serve. Dali’s live and art afford numerous opportunities for students, teachers, scholars and interested individuals and groups to explore a wide range of topics, engage the mind, and reflect on human experience.
The history of the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg is extremely interesting. Reynolds and Eleanor Morse of Cleveland, Ohio purchased their first Dali in 1942 and kept purchasing for over 40 years. They first opened their Dali Museum in 1971 in Cleveland. In 1982 they moved their Dali Museum to St. Petersburg.
In 2008 a new building was built to house the Dali Museum at a cost of over $30 Million and officially open in January, 2011 and now located in the beautiful downtown area at One Dali Blvd They are open daily 10 AM to 5:30 PM and until 8 PM on Thursdays. They have a great Museum Store and outdoor Gardens. Visit their website at: http://thedali.org/
and their phone number is: 727.823.3767
Always remember to have fun when traveling, meet new people and talk to everyone!
TRAVELING IN OUR FABULOUS GAY WORLD is written by Donald Pile and Ray Williams, Award-winning, Celebrity travel columnists who write for gay publications from coast to coast (And now legally married).
Proud members of the IGLTA. You can email them at gaytravelers@aol.com and visit their website at http://gaytravelersataol.blogspot.com/
