Salvador Dali Museum Tickets

When we arrived in Florida, I did some research to figure out what we wanted to see while we were there. I planned a route that would take us around the perimeter of the state. One of the places on the list was the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg. We had seen some of his work at The Art Institute of Chicago a few years ago. I fell in love with his surrealist style.

A couple of weeks ago, an ad popped up on Facebook for a Van Gogh exhibit. Curious, I clicked the link. As it turned out, the exhibition was at the Salvador Dali Museum. They had extended the show’s dates through June. When I first attempted to get tickets, there were no dates available. After clicking on the calendar a few times, some dates popped up. There were four days in April available. We weren’t interested in the one on Saturday or when the parking lot would be closed as we did not want to have to use a shuttle. That left one date that suited us.

I did not have my credit card readily available, so I decided to wait until morning to buy the tickets. After all, how many tickets were they going to sell overnight? Quite a few. The only day available the following day was when the parking lot would be closed. It was not what I wanted, but at least we would be able to see the exhibit.  There was only one ticket available for that day, so I continued clicking on the calendar, hoping something else would pop up. Suddenly, a Monday in March was open. I quickly snagged our tickets and was brimming with excitement to see the Van Gogh Alive exhibit.

Museum Day

The Salvador Dali Museum is about an hour away. Our entry time was 12:30 pm. When I realized the museum was only a few miles from The Chattaway, we decided to have lunch before going to the museum. We were up early to enjoy some coffee before leaving. We left in plenty of time to fill up with gas and arrive at the restaurant just after they opened without having to rush.

As we haven’t eaten in many restaurants since the pandemic started, we were looking forward to enjoying a delicious, leisurely lunch in their outdoor seating area. That did not quite work out for us. The lunch was good, but not at all leisurely.

We arrived at the museum with time to spare. I enjoyed the beautiful flower garden in front of the museum. There were painted ants on the concrete and ant sculptures just outside the front door. I was giddy with anticipation. As we stood in the entry line, we felt a few drops of rain. Luckily, the heavier rain held off until we were inside.

We went through the temperature check station and picked up our entry wristbands. We stopped at the café for coffee before we went to the third floor to the gallery. Once we entered the gallery, I was mesmerized by the beautiful artwork.

The Artwork

We took our time, meandering around, stopping to study each piece while avoiding the other people as much as we could. I loved the layering of the early works with oil paint applied to the canvas thickly.

As we entered a second room, I enjoyed a large painting of a nude woman peering at the water from a rooftop. Much to my surprise, when I looked back at the image from farther away, it had become a portrait of Abraham Lincoln. I attempted to capture the effect with my camera, but the photos do nothing to show the magic of the piece.

The museum is set up, for the most part, to give you a chronological experience of Dali’s work. As we progressed through the timeline, I was thrilled to reach the surrealist period. Each piece developed before our eyes. The more we looked, the more we saw. The extensive details were remarkable. I enjoyed the flow within the works and discovering the hidden pictures within the entirety of the pieces. My favorite, The Broken Bridge and the Dream, had a mystical quality that captivated me. The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory, a powerful piece, was a very close second.

I mentioned to Chris how amazing it was to see different works than what we had seen in Chicago a few years ago. As the words came out of my mouth, I realized that there wouldn’t be the same original pieces in multiple locations. I was so enamored with what we were looking at, the logical side of my brain just stopped working for a moment. It was lovely to lose myself in the magic of the artwork.

Van Gogh Alive

We next went across the hall to the Van Gogh Alive exhibit. Large screens lined two large rooms. Beautiful music, played as flashes of Van Gogh’s artwork rolled across the screens, creating an immersive atmosphere. The screens transformed from one work of art to another seamlessly before our eyes, with quotes appearing on the floor. While I was a little disappointed that there were no actual works by Van Gogh on display, the experience was beautiful.

Had there been fewer people in the room, I would have been more inclined to stay longer and absorb more of the exhibit. Just going to a museum was outside of our comfort level. We were not about spending much time in a room packed with people.

Before leaving, we browsed through the gift shop. There were souvenirs of all kinds reflecting Dali’s and Van Gogh’s artwork. I had trouble picking just one. Chris told me to get whatever I wanted. The gift shop was pricey, so I settled for a cute shirt and a shot glass, each depicting a different piece.

As we left the museum, we took some time to enjoy the ant sculpture by the entrance and take photos of the gorgeous flowers along the sidewalk. I didn’t realize that we had forgotten to go out to the garden before we left the museum. I guess I have a good excuse to go back.