St. Petersburg is a wonderful city to visit, with 255,000 inhabitants. It's western edge faces the Gulf of Mexico, while the eastern edge faces the large Tampa Bay. A visitor feels welcomed in this attractive and vibrant city. I was surprised by the many passing strangers who smiled and said hello. The downtown arts district has this painted intersection:
(Click on any photo to enlarge)
A local hair salon has a socio-political message:
The city built the museum on the waterfront, facing the yacht harbor and Tampa Bay. The Dalí can resist a category 5 hurricane, but just in case, all the artwork is on the third floor of this impressive structure, to avoid any possible contact with flooding water.
View from the inside looking at the marina and Tampa Bay.
In addition, The Dalí has a temporary exhibit of the Basque artist Eduardo Chillida (1924-2002), with several works in iron, clay, stone and paper. This large work, In Praise of Light, is a block of alabaster, a favorite material of Chillida. It is a beautiful stone and the artist has created some remarkable pieces.
Another view of the same piece:
This smaller piece of alabaster invites long viewing because of the angles and curves.
Another favorite material is iron, reflecting the age old tradition of Basque iron extraction and forges. Chillida created a technique to bend iron into shapes that reminds me of drawings of Escher. This is called Union, created in 1992:
Embrace, created in 1992:
More about the Dalí collection in Florida.
This was a visit well worth the effort. It was a first experience for me, flying across the country to visit a museum. I seldom drive 90 minutes from my home to museums in San Francisco!
But there is more, as next day I was astounded by the glass art of Dale Chihuly. That's the subject of the next post.
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