Salvador Dalí Museum

Interior view of entry atrium with spiral staircase

Reportedly costing over $30 million,[1] the surrealism-inspired museum structure[2] features a large glass entryway and skylight[3] made of 1.5-inch (38 mm) thick glass. Referred to as the "Enigma", the glass entryway is 75 feet (23 m) tall and encompasses a spiral staircase.[3] The remaining walls are composed of 18-inch (460 mm) thick concrete, designed to protect the collection from hurricanes which hit the region from time to time.[4]

The Museum is a member of the American Alliance of Museums (AAM)[5] and of the North American Reciprocal Museums program.[6]

The museum features a variety of different events for families to attend. Some events include performances, workshops, films, lectures, different types of fundraising, and food & drink events. Many previous events have allowed members to participate in handmade holiday card workshops where participants created their very own holiday card including a Dalí theme. In addition, there has been weekly poetry performances and lectures such as coffee with a curator, a presentation on a theme-oriented topic that discusses a variety of topics in relation to Dalí.[7]

The old Salvador Dalí Museum facility in St Petersburg

Salvador Dalí's signature as seen on the outside of the museum

Shortly before marrying in 1942, Reynolds and Eleanor Morse attended a Dalí retrospective at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Intrigued by the artist's subject matter, and impressed by his draftsmanship, they bought their first painting a year later. This purchase began a 40-year relationship as patrons and friends of Dalí that resulted in a comprehensive collection of original Dalí work.[8]

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 curation had produced a unique collection that needed a permanent home.

In March 1971, with Salvador Dalí presiding over the opening, the Morses opened a museum adjacent to their office building in Beachwood, Ohio.[9] By the end of the decade, with an overwhelming number of visitors, the Morses decided to again move their collection.

After a drawn-out search which drew national attention, a marine warehouse in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida was rehabilitated and the museum opened on March 7, 1982,[9] where it remained until 2010.

In mid-2008, a new location for the Dali museum was announced. A new building was designed by Yann Weymouth of the architectural firm HOK and built by The Beck Group[10] under the leadership of then-CEO Henry C. Beck III. Located on the downtown waterfront next to the Mahaffey Theater, on the former site of the Bayfront Center, (an arena which had been demolished in 2004), the new, larger, and more storm-secure museum was opened on January 11, 2011.

On April 18, 2012, the AIA's Florida Chapter placed the building on its list of Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places.[11]

Side view of the Salvador Dalí Museum

The museum's collection includes 96 oil paintings, over 100 watercolors and drawings, 1,300 graphics, photographs, sculptures, and objets d'art, plus an extensive archival library.[12] The Museum Library contains over 7,000 volumes, exhibition and sale catalogs, video, sound recordings, and special collections related to Dalí's life, Surrealism, and the Avant-garde. The library also holds the donated collection of Albert Field, a New York collector and Dalí archivist.[13] Recently, the museum opened a new exhibit named "Dali Lives", which uses artificial intelligence to help visitors to experience an interactive modern-day Dali.[14] In July of 2020, the museum added a new exhibit called "At Home with Dali".This exhibit features a diverse group of portraits by five photographers – Horst. P. Horst, Ricardo Sans, Melitó Casals, Lies Wiegman and Robert Descharnes. The nearly 40 images, dating from the 1950s and early 1960s, provide an intimate view of Dalí in his home environment in Spain. These rarely exhibited photos offer a glimpse into Dalí’s personal life. [15] Permanent collection displays are periodically rotated, and several temporary shows are mounted each year. .

The museum is home to more masterpieces of Dalí than any other museum in the world, including the large-scale paintings The Hallucinogenic Toreador, The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus, The Ecumenical Council, Geopoliticus Child Watching the Birth of the New Man and The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory.

In addition to displaying the work of Dalí, the museum aims to educate the public and promote understanding, enjoyment, and scholarly examination of art through the exhibition of works by Dalí and artists of similar vision.[16]

With the exception of the Dalí Theater-Museum created by Dalí himself in his hometown of Figueres in Spain, the St. Petersburg Dalí Museum has the world's largest collections of Dalí's works.[17]

During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the Salvador Dalí Museum made their gallery available for viewing online.[18]

• 
  The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus
• 
  Geopoliticus Child Watching the Birth of the New Man
• 
  Apparatus and Hand

The Dali Museum plans to host a "Van Gogh Alive" exhibit featuring proprietary Sensory4 technology that brings artworks of Vincent van Gogh to life using 3D images and surround sound. The first time a North American museum will host an exhibit of its kind, the show includes nearly 3000 of van Gogh's artworks in projections on the walls and floors of the Dali Museum.[19]

• Dalí Theatre and Museum – Museum of Dalí in his home town of Figueres, Spain
• Gala Dali Castle Museum-House – in Púbol, Spain
• Espace Dalí – in Paris, France, museum of Dalí's drawings and sculptures
• Dalí – Die Ausstellung am Potsdamer Platz – in Berlin, Germany: more than 450 original artworks by Salvador Dalí
• Reynolds and Eleanor Morse – Dalí's American patrons

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Salvador Dalí Museum.

• Salvador Dalí Museum website
• "Dali Lives", Art Meets Artificial Intelligence at The Dali Museum