Docent Tours of Exhibitions
Trained Museum docents provide over 1,700 tours of the Museum each year. These include tours adapted to the special needs and interests of a wide variety of visitors. Docent training is an intense four month program consisting of fifteen two-hour slide lectures, three written tests and a final mini-tour. A semi-annual docent refresher course is conducted to keep long-time docents current with changing interpretations of Dalí’s art. In addition, special training is undertaken to prepare for all changing exhibits, including slide lectures, “Docent Notes,” and gallery walkthroughs with the curator.
Printed Exhibition Guides
For visitors not wishing to join a docent tour, the education department has produced a selection of exhibit pamphlets and a self-guided printed tour of the Museum collection describing Dalí’s life, art and influences. These guides supplement the docent tours by providing additional information about the exhibit and collection. To date, the Self-Guides have been translated into eight languages for international visitors, including Japanese, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Italian and Catalan. There is also a large print version available for sight impaired visitors.
Dalí Lecture Series
Organized by the Education Department, an ongoing series of lectures features scholars and specialists who speak on topics relating to Dalí, Surrealism and our changing exhibitions. These lectures compliment current exhibitions by providing in-depth information on the given subject. The Dalí Museum presents approximately seven lectures per year. top
Film Series
In order to foster interdisciplinary awareness, the Museum sponsors several film series and a film festival in conjunction with the Dalí collection and the temporary exhibits. The Dalí & Beyond Film Series features movies that share a common enthusiasm for fantasy, dreams, creativity and the imagination. The “art@2:00” Film Series focuses on art documentaries featuring Salvador Dalí, his peer artists, his influences, and those who influenced him. The “Cinema of Agitation” Film Festival is a two day event featuring a variety of films from a particular culture that are visionary in their scope. top
Avant Music Programs
In order to foster interdisciplinary creativity, the Museum hosts a music series and a music festival—the emit Series of Experimental Music and the BONK Festival of New Music. These programs are held for the enrichment of the community and imply connections between the visual and musical arts. The programs compliment each other, with the emit Series presenting local and national musicians who perform avant-garde contemporary improvisational music while BONK features world premiers of irreverent experimental/post-modern, avant-garde and classical compositions by local and international composers. In addition, the Museum presents such events as the Irritable Tribe of Poets, focusing on collaborations of community poets and musicians. top
DalíVision Outreach Programs
The Dalívision Outreach programs consist of slide and poster lectures presented by Museum docents at the request of community and education groups. Often these programs are presented prior to a group tour to the Museum, but they may also be given independent of a visit. Some of the groups served include schools, convalescent homes, senior groups, churches, and social and service clubs. These programs focus on the life and work of Salvador Dalí, and may feature specific topics such as his religious work, the art of his youth or a general overview of the collection with some background on museum history, present functions and programs. top
Coffee with a Curator
A monthly gallery tour program where Dalí Museum curators share their professional insight into aspects of the current exhibitions with museum visitors and the Dalí community. Sponsored by Starbucks Coffee Company. top
