Wednesday, May 30, 2012

The World of Dalí


       Sibley and I were lucky enough to visit the Dalí museum in St. Petersburg, Florida during this past spring semester. It was a really great trip! Sibley’s mom joined us in Orlando and then we all drove to St. Petersburg. The museum was really interesting and I learned so many things about Dalí and his work. The museum showed his progression from a student to a true artist, which was really neat. The entire museum was made like a giant piece of surrealist art, with a spiral staircase and huge glass windows. We were also lucky enough to catch a tour of the museum, in Spanish. It was really fun for us to listen in as the tour guide explained the painting, The Hallucinogenic Torreador,  giving us a glimpse of what it will be like to visit Spanish museums, where all the tours will be in Spanish. Yay!

       In Dali’s hometown of Figueres, Spain, sits the Dalí Theatre Museum, a huge collection of Dalí’s work. Like the Dalí museum in St. Petersburg, the Dalí Theatre Museum incorporates surrealist art into the very structure of the building. It features giant eggs sitting on the roof, glass domes, mechanical devices, and a room created to look like Mae West’s face. While visiting the museum in St. Petersburg, we were told that it was the largest collection of Dalí’s work outside of Spain. So, we are excited to get a glimpse of the world’s largest collection, in his birthplace of Figueres.


3 comments:

  1. Can you explain the following paradox:

    Art experts definition of Dali's surrealism style is--
    If you try to explain it in words, you do not understand Surrealsim.

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  2. I think they are right that his style is very hard to explain in words. His work is like a twisted version of a dreamworld. It is crazy and bizarre and yet it fits together and makes some kind of weird sense while you look at it, as if you were in a dream. That's how I feel, anyway. :)

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  3. Amanda,
    For the benefit of you and your cousin I highly recommend that you both get in the habit of religiously reading two cultural periodicals. The FREE one can be found on the internet at
    http://www.aldaily.com/
    The modestly priced one can be subscribed to on-line at
    http://www.newcriterion.com/
    The triple benefit of enjoying these fine sources of cultural knowledge are: 1) your writing skills will improve; 2) your thinking skills/aguementative skills will improve; 3)you will not have to waste time trying to stay up to date on world events by consuming hundreds of media sources--most of which are lousy.

    ReplyDelete