Salvador Dali Museum » Past Exhibits

DALI & FILM February 8 - June 1, 2008
The Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg presents *Dalí & Film, the first exhibition examining the profound relationship between the paintings and films of Salvador Dalí (1904-1989). The exhibition reveals how Dalí combined his skills in painting with the new and exciting possibilities of the moving image to define a new art. Featuring over one hundred works from collections from all over Europe and America, together with films, photographs, film scripts, and drawings, Dalí & Film* opened at the Tate Modern in London, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and will be displayed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City in 2008. For the exhibit at the Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg a number of important works drawn from the Dalí Museum’s own extensive collection have been added, including The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory (1952-54), and The Ghost of Vermeer of Delft which can be used as a Table (1934). Dalí & Film is curated by Tate curators Helen Sainsbury and Matthew Gale (editor of Dalí & Film); Dawn Ades, Dalí scholar and curator of Salvador Dalí: Centenary Exhibition; Montse Aguer, Director, Centre d’Estudis Dalinians, Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation; and Félix Fanès, curator of Dalí and Mass Culture. The exhibition in St. Petersburg is curated by William Jeffett, Curator of Special Exhibitions, Salvador Dalí Museum. The St. Petersburg presentation is made possible by the St. Petersburg Environmental Research Corporation and by Progress Energy, a Museum sponsor since 2002, whose continued support for arts provides a benchmark for corporate engagement in the community. Presenting Sponsors for the St. Petersburg exhibition include Ovation by JMC Communities and M&I Wealth Management with additional support from the Renaissance Vinoy Resort and Golf Club, and Visit St. Petersburg/Clearwater.

DALI IN FOCUS July 13, 2007 - January 2008 Morse Galleries Encounter Dali in depth through a selection of paintings from the Museum's permanent collection displayed with a focus on the hidden details. Seven works will receive a closer examination for Dali's particular blend of personal interpretation. Assisted by dynamic visual aids and illustrated panels, the paintings are interpreted section-by-section to analyze the dreams, desires and memories that inspired the work. Curated by Joan Kropf, Curator of the Collection. Catering Associate Sponsor: Savor Auto Associate Sponsor: AutoWay Ford of St. Petersburg
THE FINE ART OF COLLECTING DALI June 22 – January 2008 Traces Gallery The Dali Museum, St. Petersburg, Florida, has been home of the most comprehensive collection of Salvador Dali’s works in America for 25 years. But how did this revered collection come to be? This cultural treasure is the result of A. Reynolds and Eleanor R. Morse’s 45 year friendship with Salvador and Gala Dali, and their profound commitment to buying the artist’s work starting with their first acquisition, Daddy Longlegs of the Evening…..Hope! (1940). A meticulously assembled archive of the Morses' research, purchase history. anecdotes, travel logs, and photographs allows us to uncover our paintings' unique stories. The Fine Art of Collecting Dali examines the story of the paintings from the hands of the artist to their permanent home in the Salvador Dali Museum. Curated by Elen Woods, Assistant Curator.
STUDENT SURREALIST Art Exhibit November 23, 2007 - January 20, 2008 Raymond James Community Room For the 23rd consecutive year, the Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg is proud to present the Student Surrealist Art Exhibit, an annual, juried exhibition of artwork produced by Pinellas County middle and high school art students from private and public schools. The exhibition will open at the Salvador Dalí Museum on Friday, November 23, 2007 and will run through Monday, January 21, 2008. Sponsored by Sonya Miller, Patricia Gorman and Cynthia Hanks. The theme, “Surrealism, Dreams and Fantasy,” invites students to explore their imagination and challenge their creativity using concepts, themes and methods similar to Dalí and his Surrealist contemporaries. Sponsored by Dalí Museum Trustee, Sonya Miller, the juried exhibit includes 100 works, produced in various media including oils, pastels, photography, and computer graphics and allows the Dalí Museum to recognize and celebrate the talent of both Pinellas County art students and their teachers
Dali’s ‘Biblia Sacra' April 20 - July 29 2007 & August 3 - November 18, 2007 Raymond James Community Room After establishing a friendship with Dali over the course of several years, Dr. Giuseppe Albaretto commissioned the artist to create 100 paintings based on passages selected from the Latin Vulgate Bible. Giuseppe was a passionate Catholic and stated in an interview in 1995: “I did everything I could to persuade him to meditate on the Catholic religion”. He hoped that the project would lead the artist to a closer relationship with God and to alleviate his perceived domination of the artist by his wife Gala. The results of the Albaretto commission grew to one-hundred and five pieces that were completed between 1963 and 1964. The original illustrations were completed with a combination of gouache, watercolor, ink and pastel. This is the premier exhibition of these prints at the Salvador Dali Museum, and will be shown in two separate presentations. Curated by Dirk Armstrong, Assistant Curator.
DALI & THE SPANISH BAROQUE February 2, 2007 - June 24, 2007 Morse Galleries The exhibition presents Spanish master paintings alongside works by Dalí from the Museum's permanent collection, demonstrating the importance of the incorporation of elements from Baroque painting into Dalí's approach to painting and its pictorial language. Dalí made frequent reference in his writings and even in the titles of his work to Baroque masters, which set himself up as a modern equivalent to artists such as Velázquez. Co-curated by Dr. William Jeffett and Suzanne Stratton-Pruitt. Sponsored by Season Sponsor Progress Energy Additional support provided by The Embassy of Spain and Northern Trust Bank Media Support provided by The St. Petersburg Times Hospitality Associate Renaissance Vinoy Resort and Golf Club Special resort offers during Dali & the Spanish Baroque	MULTIMEDIA Interview with the Curators on the exhibit Dali & The Spanish Baroque
Dali by the Decades August 4 2006 - January 2007 Main Gallery A chronological exhibition of oil paintings, drawings, watercolors and objet from the Museum's permanent collection cast against interpretive material including photographs, text and graphics showing the changing context - personal life and cultural times - in which Dali lived and created. The dynamic and tumultuous time between the two World Wars acted as a catalyst for the development of Surrealism and reflects Dalí’s particular blend of integrating his personal symbolic interpretations within the context of universally recognized symbols. Curated by Joan Kropf, Dirk Armstrong and Elen Woods. Season Sponsor: Progress Energy.
Dali & the Zodiac August 4 2006 - January 2007 Raymond James Community Room This exhibition will seek to unveil connections between various definitions of the Dali Zodiac in four sections. One section will display the Dali Zodiac print suite; which will be supplemented by general information specific to each astrological sign. This will be complimented by a didactic representation of Dalí’s own Zodiac, supporting and expanding upon the biographical information on Dalí presented in the main galleries. The last two sections have a more historical perspective, addressing the history of the Zodiac group and the origins of Catalan Mysticism. Curated by Elen Woods and Peggy McKendry. Season Sponsor: Progress Energy.
Illumined Pleasures: Dalí and Early Cinema August 4 - January 2007 Traces Gallery Exhibition outlines connections between Dalí and the cinema of the early 20th century. It provides a glimpse into the cinematic world of Dalí's youth, presenting fantastic, comedic and animated work by filmmakers who influenced Dalí in his formative years. They paved the way for the cinematic style of his Surrealist canvases and his successful cinematic collaborations with Luis Buñuel, Walt Disney and Alfred Hitchcock. Exhibit also suggests how Dali's dreamlike universe influenced Hollywood. Both Dalí and Buñuel's Un Chien Andalou and the artist's revolutionary dream sequence for Hitchcock's Spellbound are shown. Curated by Peter Tush. Season Sponsor: Progress Energy.
Salvador Dalí and a Century of Art from Spain: Picasso to Plensa May 5 – July 30, 2006 Main Galleries and Raymond James Community Room If the 20th century was tumultuous – in its scientific and medical discoveries, its wars, annihilations, and migrations – it was equally dynamic in its art. The ways in which art engages the world was in this period as varied and vehement as our history. Although the art of this century – known as modern and contemporary art – is often identified with Paris, an alternative center for its development is Spain. This exhibition explores that idea. Presenting many examples of Salvador Dalí's work, our exhibition explores the major artists and artistic inventions of the period as embodied in the art of Spain. Beginning with Pablo Picasso's first Cubist sculpture and ending with the renowned contemporary sculptor Jaume Plensa, the exhibition provides a view of Dalí’s influential work alongside eminent modern and contemporary Spanish art borrowed from leading museums around the world. Co-curated by William Jeffett and Ellen Landis; organized by Albuquerque Museum of Art & History and the Salvador Dalí Museum. The exhibition is sponsored by Raymond James Financial, WVEA TV-Univision & WFTT-TV 50 TeleFutura. Click here for a list of featured artists...
Pollock To Pop: America's Brush With Dalí December 9, 2005 - April 28, 2006 Main Galleries 4-7 After wowing audiences since December, Pollock To Pop: America’s Brush With Dalí will end its limited run on April 28. Visitors have described the exhibition as awesome, fantastic, amazing, and a treasure. The Salvador Dalí Museum assembled Pollock To Pop: America’s Brush With Dalí with some of the most significant works of modern art borrowed from major American museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., the Philadelphia Museum of Art, private collections and foundations. Pollock To Pop: America’s Brush With Dalí presents American Abstract Expressionist and Pop Art works in dialog with one another and with the art of Salvador Dalí from that era. In addition to Dalí, major artists represented include Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, Chuck Close, Roy Lichtenstein, Mark Rothko and James Rosenquist. Click here for more info about Pollock To Pop This exhibition was sponsored by Progress Energy. Click here for more info about Pollock To Pop
Dalí Under the Influence November 27, 2005 - April 28, 2006 Main Galleries 1-3 This exhibition of Dalí works from our Museum collection, is presented in conjunction with our special exhibition Pollock to Pop: America’s Brush with Dalí. The aim of this exhibition is to acknowledge the breadth of the historical influences on Dalí. This exhibition was sponsored by Progress Energy. Click here for more info about Dalí Under the Influence
Exhibition Posters from the Salvador Dali Museum Archives Raymond James Community Room April 12 – May 2, 2006 This exhibition features 21 posters selected from the museum archives for a one-month presentation in the museum’s Raymond James Community Room. The selections include promotional posters from both the Salvador Dali Museum in Florida and the Fundacio Gala-Salvador Dali Museum in Figueres, Spain; as well as examples from museum and gallery exhibitions held in Japan, Spain, Italy, Scotland, The Netherlands, and New York. Also featured in the show is the Dali-designed promotional poster for the Museum of Modern Art’s Dada, Surrealism and Their Heritage exhibit in 1968.
Student Surrealist Art Exhibit February 23- April 2006 Raymond James Community Room The annual "Student Surrealist Art Exhibit" is a juried competition for Pinellas County middle and high school art students from public and private schools. Through this exhibit, the Dalí Museum recognizes and celebrates the talent of Pinellas County art students and their teachers. The theme, "Surrealism, Dreams and Fantasy," invites students to explore their imagination and challenge their creativity using concepts, themes and methods similar to Dalí and his Surrealist contemporaries. Private Reception March 8, 6-8pm. Winners will be announced March 8th. Click here for more information.
Scholastic Art and Writing Awards Exhibition February 3 – February 19 2006 Raymond James Community Room Juried art show featuring work by Pinellas County students selected for the national Scholastic Arts and Writing Competition. Organized by the St. Petersburg Festival of States. Raymond James Community Room. Private reception February 10, 6-8pm Click here for more information.
Tilting at Windmills: Dalí Illustrates Cervantes' 'Don Quixote' April 2005 - January 2006 Raymond James Community Room In celebration of the 400th anniversary of the publication of the first volume of Miguel Cervantes' Don Quixote de la Mancha, the Salvador Dalí Museum presents an exhibition featuring Dalí's illustrations of this classic work of literature. Click here for more info about Tilting at Windmills
DALÍ REVEALED: Land, Myth, Perception and God February - December 2005 This exhibition organizes Dali's work into four persistent categories of obsession: Land (the landscape of Catalonia); Myth (both classical myths and the highly personalized mythology Dali constructs); Perception (the elasticity of reality and vision and demonstrated by optical illusions and double images); and God (themes of theism [Catholicism] and atheism). It reveals a mind laden with traditions yet heroically striving to demonstrate what else the world might be.

DALÍ CENTENNIAL: An American Collection January - August 2004 This centenary exhibition is a retrospective of the permanent collection. The exhibit outlines Dalí's career from the formative years 1917-1918, his notable Surrealist period 1919-1940, and his later works from 1941-1970. The exhibition features the multifaceted aspects of the artist's work, showcasing the extensive and varied material the Museum owns in a variety of media. Curated by Joan Kropf, Dirk Armstrong and Kelly Reynolds.
IMAGINARY GARDENS: Joan Fontcuberta Mapping Dalí's Landscapes September 2003 - January 2004 Installation show designed specifically for the Dalí Museum and responding to the Museum's collection by the Barcelona-based Catalan photographer. Fontcuberta's work questions the notion of "truth" as constructed by the photographic medium, particularly in the context of the digital age when the already fragile "reality" can be so easily manipulated. Curated by William Jeffett.

SALVADOR DALÍ: Hand Painted Dream Photographs Selections From the Permanent Collection September 2003 - January 2004 In 1935 Dali wrote of painting, as "instantaneous color photography done by hand..." For him painting aspired to photography, with the technique so refined that it erased the artist's hand. If Dali moved from painting towards photography, so Fontcuberta has moved from photography towards painting. In doing so has questioned the truth-function of photography, asserting its artistic role.

DALÍ & MASS CULTURE October 2004 - January 2005 Dalí & Mass Culture is the only American showing of a landmark international exhibition presenting over two hundred and seventy Salvador Dalí works in film, fashion, painting, photography, plus images from Dalí's Surreal World's Fair fun house and the first ever showing of Dalí's paintings for Disney. Most of the exhibit works will be seen here for the first time — only nine paintings from Museum's permanent collection. The Dalí/Disney collaboration Destino, an animated short film, is shown daily during the entire run of the exhibition.