Until 1971, the Morses displayed their collection in their Cleveland, Ohio, home. When they loaned over 200 pieces to a Dalí retrospective in 1965, they realized that 25 years of collecting produced a mini-retrospective that needed a permanent home. In March 1971, with Dalí presiding over the opening, the Morses opened a museum adjacent to their office building in Beachwood, Ohio. By the end of the decade with an overwhelming number of visitors, the Morses decided to again move their collection.
After a search
that drew national attention, a marine warehouse in downtown St. Petersburg,
Florida was rehabilitated and the museum opened on March 7, 1982.
In mid-2008, a new
location for the Dali museum was announced. Designed by Yann Weymouth of the architectural firm HOK and built by The Beck Group under the leadership of then-CEO Henry C. Beck III, it was built on the downtown waterfront
next to the Mahaffey Theater, on the former site of the Bayfront Center, an arena that was demolished in 2004. The
new, larger and more storm-secure museum opened on January 11, 2011. Reportedly
costing over $30 million, this structure features a large glass entryway and
skylight made of 1.5 inch thick glass. Referred to as the “Enigma”,
the glass entryway is 75 feet tall and encompasses a spiral staircase. The remaining walls are composed of 18-inch
thick concrete, designed to protect the collection from hurricanes.
The above text is
from Wikipedia: instead of reinventing the wheel, I’d rather give credit to an
excellent introduction to why there is a Dali Museum in such a small out of the
way place like St Petersburg. The city fathers certainly used their marketing salesmanship to get the Morses to come to their town.
We were lucky in that my hostess knew a
docent (like a Trustee) and she arrived promptly and took us on a personal tour
of the place. For an hour, from 3.30pm, she was a veritable walking encyclopaedia
on Dali and the Museum. People would get around us as she explained various
works to us. Thank you, J.
The very first painting of Dali which you see
above is the 1943 called “Daddy longlegs by the evening - Hope”. Painted in 1940, it
was sold to the Morse family for US$ 1250. And then Dali sold the frame for US$
1750!!
This painting above is really huge. It must be at least
25 ft high and it stands regally in the gallery. One of the first things that strikes
the visitor is that many of the paintings are so complex. There are images with
images within images!! Look carefully at the next few photographs and you will
see images coming out of some larger image!! It’s unique and very difficult to
do so successfully as part of a larger design.
The lower visual is part of the bottom
section of the main painting – you can clearly see figurines painted as if its
part of the base!
Here is a ghoulish painting but again
intriguing – see the eyes which are actually faces and the human body which is
prt of the cheek! Dali really was a master of surrealism.The painting of Dali’s wife within Abraham Lincoln’s face is in 3D. – It took one year and is over 5 ft high. It is therefore classified as a “Monumental” work.
You see the painting through a glass and see the difference!
The Dali Museum has over 100 oil paintings
and a total of over 2,000+ works by the Master.
Outside, after the exhibits, there is a superb shop selling Dali
items…. You go crazy trying to decide what to buy…. But beware. You will land
up buying what you think is a great design or item; little remembering that the
person who is getting it is unlikely to wear / use it at all. I loved the
earrings and bought two sets. They still lie in my cupboard as Indian faces are
not suitable for Daliesque designs! There is a car on display there which is
nice but frankly I felt it was out of place. I don’t think Dali used it. You will
enjoy the range of T shirts, cards, posters, miscellanea on sale. Browse around…
the staff are very helpful. I think there are some discounts available too.
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