The Tentacle: Spellbound by Salvador Dali by Kevin E. Dayhoff

The Tentacle: Spellbound by Salvador Dali by Kevin E. Dayhoff March 25, 2009

Last month I enjoyed a bit of respite from Maryland’s winter by visiting Florida. Finding myself within reasonable driving distance of St. Petersburg, I jumped at the chance to visit the Salvador Dali Museum.

Located on the waterfront in Barboro Harbor, it is the “largest collection of Dali’s work outside of Spain,” according to Peggy McKendry, the assistant to the director of the museum.

The museum, which opened in a renovated marine warehouse March 7, 1982, is the home of 2,140 pieces of Salvador Dali’s art, including 96 oil paintings and eight huge master works.

This collection began in Cleveland, OH, in 1942. Collecting Dali’s art was the lifelong passion of industrialist A. Reynolds Morse, and his wife Eleanor Reese Morse.

[…]

In recent years, I have visited art museums – from San Diego, Salt Lake City, Anchorage, Boston, Washington, and Baltimore – and I found the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg to be one of the friendliest exhibitions I have ever seen.

Everyone from Ms. McKendry, to the extremely knowledgeable docents, and even the museum guards went out of their way to make sure you knew that the museum was there to serve, entertain, and educate.

Such accessibility is critical if you are to have a meaningful experience exploring 20th century contemporary art – especially the work of Salvador Dali.

[…]

While I was doing some additional research on Dali, after I visited the museum, I had the great fortune to talk with Dan Twyman, the senior art consultant for the “Salvador Dali Society,” in Redondo Beach, CA, the owner of the website, www.salvadordaliexperts.com and a volunteer expert for the website http://www.allexperts.com/ in the fine art category.

[…]

Read the entire column here: Spellbound by Salvador Dali
Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster. E-mail him at kevindayhoff AT gmail.com.

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Photo credit: 1965 Salvador Dali with ocelot and cane
Library of Congress. New York World-Telegram & Sun Collection. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3c14985
By Roger Higgins, World Telegram staff photographer

Kevin Dayhoff www.kevindayhoff.net http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/

The Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida

The Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg

February 19, 2009

A few pictures from my visit to the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg on February 19, 2009.

I finally had the opportunity to visit the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida…

It was really exciting. It is the largest collection of Dali’s work outside of Spain. The museum is very viewer friendly and informative. If you go, be sure to be available for all the docent tours. The docents were extremely knowledgeable and really brought Mr. Dali’s work to life.

Dali Museum » About the Museum » History

SALVADOR DALI MUSEUM

Our Present

The Dali Museum is the flagship of cultural tourism on the West Coast of Florida and welcomes over 200,000 visitors each year from around the world. Serving the Florida community, 10,000 students are admitted without charge annually. Our education programs produce study guides and web information for students and teachers. Two film series, lectures and concerts supplement the themes of the exhibitions. The Museum Store - one of the most dynamic in the museum world, with books and educational material as top sellers, reflects and extends the exhibition experience. A new series of small format exhibition catalogs is published to accompany the four new exhibitions mounted each year. The Dali maintains strong partnerships with the community of St. Petersburg, the State of Florida as well as museums and educational institutions globally. As a partner with locally based corporations, the Museum is an engine for economic development in Florida.

The Museum will create a new building to protect its collection and welcome its visitors. It is continually adding to the collection with acquisitions of paintings, drawings and prints. The Museum's extensive archival library is key to the advances in academic research on topics from Dali to Surrealism, to interpretations of contemporary art. Today, the Dali Museum continues to preserve and protect its collection, making it available for the enjoyment and education of all people, with special opportunities for our local community, enhancing the public appreciation of Dali.

For more information: Dali Museum » About the Museum » History

Museum Directions

Street Address:
Salvador Dalí Museum
1000 Third Street South
St. Petersburg, Florida 33701-4901

Regular Hours:
Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday 9:30-5:30pm
Thursday 9:30am-8pm
Friday 9:30am-6:30pm
Saturday 9:30am- 5:30pm
Sunday 12 noon – 5:30pm

The Museum store remains open 1/2 hour after closing on these days:Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

Holiday Hours:
Thursday, November 27, 2008 – Closed
Wednesday, December 24, 9:30 - 4:00 p.m.
Thursday, December 25, 2008 – Closed
Friday and Saturday, December 26-27, 9:30- 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, December 28 - 12:00-7:00 p.m.
Monday and Tuesday, December 29-30, 9:30- 7:00 p.m.
Wednesday, December 31, 9:30- 5:00 p.m.
Thursday, January 1, 12:00-8:00p.m.

Admission:
General Admission - $17.00
Senior citizens 65+ - $14.50
Teachers with ID/US Police/Military & Fire - $14.50
Students* ages 10+ (18+ with ID) - $12.00
Children ages 5 to 9 - $4.00
Children ages 4 and under - FREE*
Thursdays are $5 (5 p.m. - 8 p.m.)

Tour Schedules and information on group rates and scheduling groups can be obtained by calling the museum's administrative office at 727-823-3767 weekdays, and 727-822-6270 on weekends.

Tours and discounted rates for groups of 10 or more are available with advance reservations.
Group Adult - $15.00 per visitor
Group Senior - $12.00 per visitor
*Children ten and under must be accompanied by an adult.

20090219 SDOSM Salvador Dali Museum
Kevin Dayhoff www.kevindayhoff.net http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/