The museum is right on the waterfront in St. Petersburg, not far from Tropicana Stadium, the home of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team. The museum has an extensive collection of Dali art works that have been donated by a local business man, philanthropist and art collector, and his wife who acquired the art over a long period of time and were friends of Dali. It is perhaps the most extensive collection of Dali art anywhere and covers the whole range of his artistic works from his student pieces through his phases of Anti-Art, Surrealism, Nuclear Mysticism to his later career creations.
Dali's art is not our favorite type of art, but it was very interesting to see all of his various styles/periods and the amazing technical artistic skill and imagination in his work. Many of his works have images within images that are easy to miss without an explanation of what he was actually doing and expressing. It is not art that can be casually viewed and understood but requires careful attention to detail and in many cases, an explanation to appreciate his artistic genius.
There was also a special exhibition at the museum of works by Rene Magritte and Dali, perhaps the two most celebrated surrealist artists in the world.
Parking at the museum was restricted by street closures and preparations for the St. Petersburg Grand Prix, a formula 1 race car event on a closed course along the waterfront, coming this weekend. We had to park in a lot at Tropicana Field and take a free shuttle to the museum.
After we arrived, we had a great lunch of Spanish food at the museum café. When we toured the galleries and left, we headed over to Clearwater Beach for dinner at our favorite beach restaurant, Frenchy's Rockaway Grill, for She Crab Soup, a Grouper sandwich (me) and Grouper egg rolls (Judy).
It was a long but enjoyable day. Baseball again tomorrow with a forecast of showers and cooler for the next couple of days.
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