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5/24/20 Update: Still closed due to COVID. Call first, (727) 823-3767.
First I'm going to give you a name. Janice. Now remember that and read on.
If you like art, go. Here is the largest collection of the surrealist artist's work in America. Located on the marina waterfront of a city filled with incredible street murals, this building features a twisting belt of domed windows that bring to mind blue fly's eyes, definitely strange but not very interesting or evocative of the work inside. (Although there is a cool concrete spiral staircase that rises into the domed skylight. Of course Mab had to climb it. She sent me up alone in an elevator and I met her up top. It's the simple pleasures.) The building looks better on the website but try as we might, we never saw it from such a flattering angle. Maybe it's from a boat? No matter, what's inside will set you on fire - and the staff is exceptional too, as you'll see.
The collection includes some of the most famous works, including several enormous wall-sized paintings, and offers a number of supporting resources like apps and self-guided tours. The museum was built in 2011, so it is modern and accessible. Someone with the museum followed up with us while we were parking and transferring, telling us about the museum and the half-price tickets starting at 5 p.m. on Thursdays, their late night. ($12 instead of $24 per person.)
Mab and I were in awe seeing the works we'd loved for so long, and what enhanced our experience and made it even more special was our tour guide, Janice. I've got no knocks on the other guides and I'm sure they're all sharp, but everyone, especially if you are in a wheelchair, call in advance for Janice's tour schedule. She is both a walking, talking art encyclopedia and a fairy godmother of accessibility. Not only was she incredibly knowledgeable after 22 years of doing this, even traveling with Dali's widow in Spain (this is definitely someone you'd want to buy dinner for), and renders all the background and mystery to these mindbending work. It's like experiencing The Da Vinci Code - Dali Edition. But then she also gave me in my wheelchair the prime spot of the tour. While she talked, rattling off info to the group, she would also be cueing me with her eyes, fingers, flashlight where to park for best viewing or where to maneuver on the way to the next painting. She moved the group along at my pace, or backed them off, or made room so I never got stuck at the back of the pack staring at other people's rearends. Afterwards it turned out she was parked next to us, and she explained that there was someone in her life who used a wheelchair. I don't know how she did it all but I've been in a wheelchair for 27 years now (holy crap!) and I can't tell you what how great this was and she was. How good? A couple hundred miles away we camped next to David and Nancy from Maine, totally cool people, and they're like, "If you're ever in St. Petersburg go to The Dali Museum and there's this incredible docent named Janice…"
"We know, we know!"
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| Disappearing Bust of Voltaire |
The online collection will make for a good evening of quarantine viewing.
Next blog, the murals of St. Pete and a sweet vegan lunch at Love Food Central.
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