SALVADOR DALI IN FLORIDA! THE STATE HAS IT ALL.
The quirky artist’s museum is less than an hour from Siesta Key. It sits just off the gulf in St. Petersburg. The immersive Van Gogh exhibit is there as well.
Again, someday someone will explain to my why a piece of cloth over your nose and mouth in a highly ventilated place is going to make any difference in disease transmission.
Wanted to see the Dali Museum and the Van Gogh immersive installation badly enough to decide two to three hours with a Bazooka Joe Bandana over the face would be worth it. While I can’t say it was, both the permanent and temporary displays were outstanding.
Dali, for those of you who went to public school from 1980 to 2020, is an artist of such unique talent that many critics still don’t know how to respond to his work. Descriptions sound like those of a blind date set-up.
“He’s, uh, got personality.”
“There’s a lot of Dali in Dali.”
“He is unusual looking, but in an oddly compelling way.”
And other nonsense that means, “I’m afraid to criticize the work.”
Much of contemporary art, and by that I mean post-impressionism, is awful. As culture moved through the 20th century, more and more attempts were made at expressionistic painting and sculpture with a political intent.
Nothing could be more of an expose of lack of talent.
To use the convenient example, a Christian cross in a jar of urine is lazy. If you didn’t take the time in figure and anatomy class to nail the human form, stay the Hell out of the galleries. Give the space to someone who did.
To the exhibit.
Full disclosure. The Impressionists are the finest artists EVER. The ability to take tiny point-sized dabs of paint and transform them into imagery of people, places, and things shifted the paradigm in the art world. Yes, I’ve seen Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Michelangelo, and Reubens. Been to every major art museum in America and Europe. Traveled to Paris six times, Florence four, Berlin, London, Rome (twice), Madrid. Schlepped the Louvre, Prado, and the National Gallery. Won’t even begin to argue the subjectivity of art.
Because I’m right and you’re wrong.
To that, the Van Gogh Immersive is a brilliant interpretation of the leading light of Impressionism. The three-dimensional concept coupled with his transcendent works is an odyssey of sight. If anyone living under a rock has not seen Van Gogh in any form, this is the way to do it.
And, of course, Dali’s works on the main floor of the museum cannot be justified in words. Get in the car or the plane, especially you teeth-chattering New Yorkers, and travel to Florida. Make sure the trip includes St. Pete.
You’ll thank me.
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