We have been to the Dali museum and theater in Figueres, twice, and to the Casa Museu Castell Gala Dali in Pubol, and to the couple's seaside home at Port LLigat. We are, as I said in a previous post, qualified Dali fans. We like the intellectual aspects of his work, the playfulness, the parodies and allusions in art history, the technical prowess, the many dimensions and innovations of his work. We disregard the clownery, the personal life, the politics and theology. One has to do this with many of the great artists; e.g., Wagner. Anyhow, from Orlando it was easy to visit the other major Dali museum, in St. Petersburg. So our set is now complete. Plus we have seen many of his works at almost all the major museums of 20th century art we have visited in the past couple decades. FWIW, we thought the museum and tour far too serious, trying to convince us of the profundity of his work and the importance of the museum. We like Dali for the laughs, mostly. Compared with the sites in Spain, it seemed like a funeral home.
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| Unadorned, unlike Figueres, etc. |
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| In his prime, in the 50s; ever the showman |
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You exit through the gift shoppe at many museums, but at the Dali in
St. Pete, they get you both coming and going; Dali would have liked that |
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One of the better gift shoppes we have seen; all and only Dali, of course
(sort of like Disney (with whom he collaborated (among many other
notables of the day))); these are puzzles of some of his works |
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Among the collaborations...a Marx brothers movie (Dali
and Harpo were close personal buds); never got made;
Groucho didn't think it was funny; MGM was not amused; wisely |
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| Surreal deals |
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In addition to the paintings, Dali also wrote...essays,
memoirs, a novel, poetry, screenplays, manifestoes, etc.) |
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I opened the book above to a random page, where you can see he fit right in with the French philosophers of his day... |
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Alas, I am no longer a suit, but I would have loved wearing
one of these in the president's office at SMU |
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| Gala being his wife, muse, financial manager... |
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The American couple, Reynolds and Eleanor Morse, whose
Dali collection forms the basis of the museum |
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A replica of Dali's 1937 lobster telephone...from which,
via the miracle of AI, you can ask Dali a question...
see below |
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I asked what the final score of the Ohio State versus
Notre Dame game would be, but did not get a helpful
response |
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A bit of the museum interior...gift shoppe, Cafe Gala on the
first floor, collections on the second |
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So we did the highlights tour initially, then wandered the main collection;
above, Daddy Longlegs of the Evening--Hope, 1940; Dali's first painting
in the US (he and Gala sought refuge from the war mostly in NYC), also
the first Dali painting acquired by the Morses |
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The tour consisted mostly of these very large format,
heavily symbolic multi-paintings (up close it looks
like one thing, further back, something else entirely);
above, The Hallucinogenic Toreador, 1969-70 |
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Ditto: The Ecumenical Council, 1960; Gala as St. Helen,
Constantine's mom; Dali himself in a Velazquez/Las Meninas
pose |
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Geopoliticus Child Watching the Birth of the New Man, 1943; the Americas
and Africa surpassing the old world (Europe); symbolism and not a little
didacticism |
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Nature Morte Vivante, 1956, expressing Dali's "atomic mysticism,"
whatever that was... |
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The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory, 1954; referring
to his most famous work, The Persistence of Memory, which we saw
at the MoMA last fall; copies everywhere: everywhere... |
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Velazquez Painting the Infanta Marguerita with the
Lights and Shadows of His Own Glory, 1958; another
of those works that changes completely when viewed
from a distance; Dali revered Velazquez, and Vermeer,
and a few others; more atomic mysticism |
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The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus,
1958-59; Dali's largest canvas, 13 feet high |
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Two views of the very famous and huge Abraham Lincoln
portrait...this what my camera could see from a distance... |
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And this closer up; a better version is at one of our visits
to the museo/teatro in Figueres; it really is stunning and
unlike anything before it in art...an essay in art and perception |
