“I don't like the idea of 'understanding' a film. I don't believe that rational understanding is an essential element in the reception of any work of art. Either a film has something to say to you or it hasn't. If you are moved by it, you don't need to have it explained to you. If not, no explanation can make you moved by it.” ~Federico Fellini
Most people define the enigmatic Dali as a surrealist, but in point of fact that would be like calling Bob Dylan a folk singer. Dylan was part of the folk music once, but it was only a phase. The same with Dali, who embraced the surrealists much the same way folk singers embraced Greenwich Village at one time.
The new Dali museum provides a well-conceived structure than enables visitors to see the phases of Dali’s work through its many progressions, from early works to anti-art, through surrealism to his nuclear mysticism and mature works. Visitors to the gallery can opt in for a walking tour or use the free headset earphones which give you more control over your pace. Each of the major works has a number on the wall that you punch in to your keypad and a narrator gives you’re the lowdown. You also have a green arrow button which you can push if you would like even more detail on the piece you are looking at.
Dali’s paintings have several features that make his style compelling. First is the superb skill as a painter. Second is the sense of mystery that surrounds so many of the scenes he portrays. Third is the way he distorts all manner of things to absurd degrees. Fourth are the themes of sensuality, eroticism and mysticism that permeate so much of his work. If it was his intent to shock, he succeeds… and yet, we keep looking, trying to understand these bizarre landscapes peopled by perversity. Two other recurring themes in Dali are that of producing optical illusions using positive and negative spaces within the picture, and his repeated references to art history.
The Dali works assembled here in St. Petersburg are actually the collection of Reynolds and Eleanor Morse of Cleveland, Ohio. I remember while in college at Ohio U. having a strong desire to see the Dali collection that the Morse’s made public in Beachwood beginning in 1971. I never followed through.
But my favorite continues to be the Hallucinogenic Toreador. According to the story (with Dali all stories are suspect as self-made mythologies) Dali purchased a box of Venus brand pencils with Venus de Milo on the box and saw a face in the shadows cast by the famous statue. Dali spent sixteen months on this remarkably complex painting.
And then there are the films. In one section of the third floor gallery we find hundreds of illustration and two large walls with movies projected onto them. Suffice it to say that the films were comical and bizarre, and due to my own time limitations I only watched a portion as the activities in the films did not imply that a storyline was in progress.
All this to say that on your next visit to Tampa, be sure to schedule a little side trip to one of the most significant collections you’ll see anywhere.
For more, visit this YouTube Tribute to Dali.
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