Known simply as The Dali, this art museum in Florida is exceptional. If you are a fan of Salvador Dali or just curious, this is an easily accessible opportunity to see Dali’s work which impacted the trajectory of art for decades.
Photo is from a postcard purchased at the museum.
The Collection
The museum houses the best collection of Dali’s art outside of Spain. There is a story behind how the art ended up in St. Petersburg. In 1982—the New York Times described the connection as surreal as one of the paintings. The collection belonged to A. Reynolds Morse and Eleanor Morse of Cleveland, Ohio. They had met Dali and his wife in New York in 1941 and had been friends for 40 years. The Morse family had been hunting for a place for the collection but stipulated that parts of it could not be sold off as most museums preferred to do. When that news became known, several community leaders in St. Petersburg succeeded in procuring the collection and constructing the original museum building. The Morse collection had 93 oils, 200 watercolors and drawings, 1000 prints, and many other creations of Salvador Dali, appraised in 1982 at $35 million.[i] Since the acquisition of the Morse collection, the museum has continued to acquire additional works and now has more than 2,000 works across the artist’s entire career in many mediums and an archive of related documents.
The Museum
The current Dali museum building was designed in 2011. I’ll quote from the museum’s website to describe the structure because it is also a work of art.
Designed by architect Yann Weymouth of HOK, it combines the rational with the fantastical: a simple rectangle with 18-inch thick hurricane-proof walls out of which erupts a large free-form geodesic glass bubble known as the “enigma.” The Enigma, which is made up of 1,062 triangular pieces of glass, stands 75 feet at its tallest point, a twenty-first-century homage to the dome that adorns Dalí’s museum in Spain. Inside, the Museum houses another unique architectural feature – a helical staircase – recalling Dalí’s obsession with spirals and the double helical shape of the DNA molecule.[ii]
I noted the hurricane-proof walls, an essential component of a structure housing priceless art on the Florida waterfront. From the inside, the Enigma structure appears to ooze out of the walls of the building to provide a panoramic view of the Bay and Pier. The tinted glass looks dark as you approach the building but is transparent. The staircase was the centerpiece of the museum’s open area, reaching through all three stories. The ground floor had a large museum store and a café with Spanish-themed dishes. The first floor also houses a community meeting room and a theatre that shows a short video about Dali, the museum, and surrealism. The second floor has a center for researchers and art professionals. It also contains administrative offices.
All of the galleries are located on the third floor. The art could have been spread out to areas on the other floors. There are so many paintings. In addition to the permanent collection of Dali’s art, we viewed the special exhibition, “The Shape of Dreams,” which contained paintings on dreams by well-known artists from the 16th through the 20th century. We also participated in a virtual reality session on the “Dreams of Dali.” We did not participate in a guided activity in the contemplation room. We were present on a weekday during work hours before the start of summer vacations. There were a few bottlenecks though nothing worth complaining about. The timed ticket entrances may be sufficient to handle larger audiences during peak tourist times.
The Artist
Salvador Dali (1904-1989) was born in Figueres, Spain. His family recognized his artistic talents early. In 1925 he had his first solo exhibition in Barcelona. In 1927 he began his required military service. He met Gala in 1929, who would become his wife in 1934. They were married for 48 years until she died in 1982. Dali looked the part of an eccentric creator of unreality. His trademark mustache changed from time to time. Generally, it was a pencil-thin handlebar mustache curled up two or three inches in an unusual style. It looked like parentheses around his nose. Dali finished his last painting in 1983 and was severely injured in a fire in 1984. He died five years later.
Dali experimented with several art styles in addition to surrealism, such as impressionism and cubism. He traveled and lived in Spain, France, and America. In America, Dali and Gala stayed for extended periods, moving from New York to the West Coast—some of his living transitions related to avoiding the Spanish Civil War and World War II.
Throughout his career, Dali continued experimenting with many themes, including death, religion, dreams, geometry, DNA, and optical illusions. Some have pondered whether Dali used hallucinogens. All I have read and Dali’s statement indicates, “No,” he didn’t use drugs. It’s challenging to think that he could detach that far from reality without a pharmaceutical stimulus. His ability to envision the world in such unusual and grotesque ways was the source of his genius. Dali’s techniques served to illustrate the imagery in his mind.
The Paintings
The Dali in St. Petersburg consists of many of Dali’s most esteemed masterpieces. It also has extensive examples of the range of media and the progression of interests that Dali pursued. The edgy paintings reflect Dali’s skewed view of the world. He reminds us that desires and expectations influence perception.
Below, I highlight paintings that I found most interesting. All are oil on canvas unless a different media is indicated. Dali was not inclined toward short names for his art.
View of Cadaques from Playa Poal. 1920. Cadaques. 1923. Dali was approximately age 16 and age 19 in these two early career paintings. The earlier painting is a strong example of impressionism. The second painting was more structured. Its buildings had geometric shapes, and the landscape and people had curved forms. It was interesting to compare the representation of the buildings on the bay’s far side in the two paintings. Both are compelling but strikingly different styles.
Basket of Bread. 1926. This is an interesting still life. Having struggled through a study of soft folds of cloth in my only art class in college, I appreciate the beautiful shadows and lines. When artists focus on abstract art, there is sometimes a question about their technical ability. This painting is an excellent example of realism.
Archeological Reminiscence of Millet’s “Angelus.” 1934. Oil on panel. Millet’s painting, Angelus, was of a peasant couple. This painting is one of Dali’s surreal interpretations of that work. In this version, the figures are towers. I won’t review in full the surrealist interpretation of Millet’s painting. In Dali’s painting, I felt drawn in by the starkness of the figures and the light. Clouds mute the moonlight, the foreground of the plain is a bright reflection of that light, and the water on the horizon is also softened. The figures in the foreground are Dali with his father.
The Man with the Head of Blue Hortensias. 1936. The painting portrays a moody and dark landscape. A man is sitting on a rock in the foreground. I first thought the man’s head was down, slumped in front of his chest. However, as I looked at the landscape more closely, I saw that the blue opening in the rock could also be the man’s head if he looked out of the painting. Visual illusions such as this make Dali’s work engaging to the viewer.
Enchanted Beach with Three Fluid Graces. 1938. This painting portrays three female figures in a beach setting. They represent the Greek goddesses of beauty, charm, and joy. From left to right, each figure is more solid or less ethereal. The faces of the women are emerging from the landscape. The string and pole relate to their roles as goddesses. The head of the figure on the left is formed as a boulder. The head of the middle figure is etched in some delicate drawings fading into the landscape, and the head of the figure on the right is found in an opening in a rock formation with landscape figures forming her facial structure. I found the transition from left to right unlike anything else I have seen.
Galacidalacidesoxiribunucleicacid (Homage to Crick and Watson.) 1963. This painting is roughly 10 feet by 15 feet. The discovery of the double spiral form of DNA increased Dali’s interest in spirals. There is a strong pattern of symbolism in the painting with religious themes. However, the part of the painting I was most interested in was a series of cubes formed by figures pointing guns at each other. This represents destruction but also references geometric shapes that fascinated Dali.
Gala Contemplating the Mediterranean Sea Which at Twenty Meters Becomes the Portrait of Abraham Lincoln-Homage to Rothko (Second Version). 1976. The optical illusion in this 8’ by 6’ painting is truly unique. Standing 3 or 4 feet back from the canvas, a nude image of Gala looking out a window to the sea is almost all you see. A background of darker block shapes surrounds the image. When you back up 20 feet or so, Gala is not noticeable, and the blocks blend to provide a picture of Abraham Lincoln. The image on cards or in books looks like a woman’s figure, but when I put my phone up to photograph the image, all I could see was Lincoln. Optical illusions were another of Dali’s interests. Dali again employs much symbolism about life and death in the painting.
The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory. 1952-54. With its melting clocks, this painting references Dali’s most famous work, The Persistence of Memory. When I think about Dali, the melting clocks are the image that comes to my mind. The museum has a bench on the grounds with a clock draped across it mimicking the melted clock. Dali saw this painting as a shift from his past focus on surrealism’s psychoanalysis to new atomic-age methods of determining the mysteries of the universe.
Surrealism
“Surrealism is destructive, but it destroys only what it considers to be shackles limiting our vision.” Salvador Dali, Declaration, 1929.
Arguably one might say that surrealism was a giant leap in man’s self-expression through art. It expanded the thoughts and emotions that humans strive to illustrate on paper. However, I have never been a fan of surrealism. That is true partly because I haven’t known much about it. Surrealism always seemed a bridge too far for me. Having visited the museum, I understand more about surrealism and have developed a higher appreciation for that style. I know that I have only scratched the surface. But I am curious now and want to understand how it came to be and the underpinnings of that style of thought and creative expression.
As I understand it, the surrealist movement was most prominent in the 1920s through 1940s or between the two world wars. It lasted into the 1960s. Surrealism started as a writing movement, with visual artists soon joining. Paris in the 1920s was home to the surrealists and other creative groups. The surrealist movement grew as the members met together in the cafes of Paris. When the Germans took Paris, the artists scattered, and the movement was no longer sustained by the collective energy and shared discussions.
The original leader of the movement, Andre Breton, took Sigmund Freud’s ideas about dreams and the subconscious, then modified them into his views. Dali was also fascinated by Freud. Breton promoted the technique of free association without inhibition. One of the approaches to this type of thought was to find two objects with no apparent connection and position them on a surface without any rational link to the objects. The example cited was a sewing machine and an umbrella on an operating table. An illustration by Dali was of a lobster sitting on the receiver of a rotary dial telephone of the time. Max Ernst called these examples “collage.”
The surrealists formed organizations to support their work, such as the Bureau for Surrealist Research. There was a Surrealist Centre in Paris where they gathered. They also produced several documents and manifestos about surrealism. Dali and Magritte became leaders of the surrealist movement in the early 1930s. Dali was excluded from the movement in 1934 by Breton but was still among the most well-known members. In 1939, Dali separated himself from the movement.
My Experience
I enjoy most art. My favorite periods of art are Renaissance (1400 to 1600) and Impressionism (1870-1900). Cubism was an exciting development. Despite his misogyny, I find Picasso a fascinating artist, based on my readings in the biography series by his friend John Richardson. I am intrigued by prehistoric rock paintings–the actual drawings and the progression they represent in mankind’s development. I love the realism/idealism of nature portrayed in the Hudson River School. I now add surrealism to this list.
As in so much of life, with Dali, the devil is in the details. Although many of his paintings appear at first glance to be landscapes, the figures are the focus rather than the expanse of the landscape portrayed. As you observe more intently, the details of the figures convey symbolism illustrating the artist’s vision.
The museum translated Dali’s interests in religion, Freud, science, and geometry, helping me make those connections. Surrealism pushed me to connect things that don’t typically go together, creating a tension. That slight discomfort encouraged me to develop a thought process for linking unrelated objects. I like art that challenges me to consider unexpected situations.
What I like most about Dali’s art and other modern art is that it suggests something for interpretation. Each individual brings their perspective to interact with the suggestion of the painting. When art is less literal, I can adapt the imagery more to my existence and place in the world. I can pull from the piece, blending it with what’s already in my head. Viewing art expands who I am. It generates a shift in my experience and understanding of the world. All art does that, but more abstract or surreal art offers a broader portal.
Sources: Besides the source noted below, I have reviewed the museum’s website (https://thedali.org/) and a book published by the museum describing its collection (The Dali Museum Collection) to refresh my memory. I have also been reading Surrealism by Cathrin Klingsohr-Leroy, purchased at the museum.
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