THE SALVADOR DALI MUSEUM

St. Petersburg, FL

This museum is dedicated to the works of Spanish artist Salvador Dalí. Designed by Yann Weymouth of the firm HOK, the museum reportedly cost over $33 million. The surrealism-inspired structure features amoebic exterior 1 ½” thick glass masses. Referred to as the "Enigma", the glass entryway is 75 feet tall. The remaining walls are composed of 18-inch thick concrete, to protect the collection from the occasional hurricanes. The interior features a massive spiral staircase winding up through the atrium to the upper levels of the museum, washed with the light from the glass forms. Reynolds Morse attended a Dalí retrospective at the Cleveland Museum of Art in 1942, and was intrigued by the artist's subject matter and draftsmanship. This began his 40-year collection of original Dalí works. The Dali museum originally opened in Ohio, but was later moved to a warehouse in St. Pete, and then in 2011 opened in its current home on the waterfront.

Dali’s deft draftsmanship and dream-like super-realism inspired my period as artist in the early 1970’s. One of my best works was an oil of The Crucifixion (left), a subject tackled by most classic artists in history. Dali addressed his Crucifixion (right) in his own surrealistic style, viewing Christ from above rather than from the ground. I followed Dali’s organization, but with a different presentation. We learn from the masters . . .