Been feeling uncultured lately? Been asking yourself how to gain the cultural experience? Down for a day of art and culture through the mind of a man who claims to be drugs themselves, also publicly known as the infamous surrealist, artist Salvador Dali himself? Then it's time you head over to soak in the genius mind at one of Florida’s greatest museums.
Personally, I’d heard of the Salvador Dali Museum through my former eccentric and charismatic high school art teacher who boasted of her visits at the museum located in St. Petersburg. Luckily enough, I was finally able to experience the museum's beauty with a couple of friends on a recent and highly anticipated adventure.
For those of you who may not be familiar with the name Salvador Dali, he is a highly regarded Spanish surrealist artist. Most should be able to recognize his most famous work known as the “Persistence of Memory,” as it is arguably the most iconic work of art from the interesting age of surrealism. Having also experimented with sculpture, photography and film, Dali also collaborated with Disney through the short animated film known as "Destino."
Being a proud USF student definitely has its perks, as my friends and I were able to visit the museum free of charge once we presented our IDs. Even the inner and outer structure of the museum itself was a work of art! Since we were interested in learning more about Dali’s influences, we decided to go on one of the hourly given tours. (I highly recommend the tours for first timers, BTW.) After a conveniently short wait, we were greeted right on the hour by a stout and jovial man who humorously announced himself as our tour guide. Much like a college lecture, our veteran tour guide gave us basic yet thorough information on Dali’s most significant pieces. In fact, the St. Pete Salvador Dali Museum boasts to have an extraordinary inventory of six out of 18 of Dali’s masterworks! So for an hour, we discovered how the avant garde painter led a difficult childhood whose life blossomed as Dali went on to be set in the 20th century limelight through his combined influences of Cubism and Metaphysics.
I think one of the most astonishing things about learning about such phenomenal person like Dali is how significant it was for him to endure and experience certain events throughout his life, a concept I think people sometimes forget in their attempts to live a "perfect life." Take it from the man of the 20th century himself, "Have no fear of perfection—you'll never reach it."
