St. Petersburg and Dali

I started early in the morning in St. Petersburg and, being a natural glutton,  I took in three museums in one day.  Stop number one......

I never expected to find a museum devoted solely to Salvador Dali's work outside of his home country of Spain...but here it is.  And it is quite extensive with over 100 original paintings and drawings.

This collection is due to the philanthropy of one couple who were friends of Dali and collected Dali's work from the days before he became well known.  Look around folks and see if you have any artist friends so you can start collecting before they become famous.   But who would have had the foresight to know that a quirky bizarre rebel who paints melting clocks would, someday, sell paintings in the millions of dollars.

It was very nice of the Moore's to donate their collection to the city of St. Petersburg.

The first thing you see when you walk in the front door is this Rolls Royce with water dripping down the inside of the windows....

A mermaid's tail flapping from the roof...

A mermaid mannequin sitting inside....

A chauffeur in a diver's helmut....

and snails! (Of course!)

All the museums say, "No pictures allowed."  But some have let me take pictures without a flash.  Not this museum though.  There was someone stationed at every turn to make sure I merely looked and nothing more.  So the above picture is of a poster in the gift shop.  But I saw the real thing in the gallery.  I did try to imagine this hanging over my sofa.  Now I know why the Morse's gave the collection to the city--This didn't fit over their sofa either.

 Did I like the art?  I have to say, I was fascinated.  I would have loved to have met the man too, though I suspect his bizarre mind would have been a little daunting.

Imagine, if you can, what the paintings looked like that had the titles....

"Telephone in a dish with three grilled sardines at the end of September."

or

"Average atmospherocephalic bureaucrat in the act of milking a cranial harp"

or my very favorite....

"Fountain of milk spreading itself uselessly on three shoes"

And if you get close at all to what the paintings actually looked like then--start painting!

The building was almost as different and amazing as the paintings....

Overlooking the bay....

with 900 panes of glass...

 

 Well, Hello Dali!