Museum of the great surrealist opens in St. Petersburg ... but not in Russia but in the U.S. state of Florida

Saint Petersburg in the American state of Florida is not as famous as its Russian namesake, but it can boast its own museum of Salvador Dali (Salvador Dalí). This museum has the largest collection of works by the great surrealist outside of Spain. But the building in which the assembly fails to meet the museum's officials on several parameters: first, there is too little space, and secondly, in the event of a storm, it could very much hurt. It was therefore decided to build a new home for the collection.

The new Dali museum will be twice the previous: 6,1 thousand square meters instead of 2.8 thousand. The collection consists of 2 140 works, many of whom are now languishing in the reserves, but in the new building will show the entire collection at once. It includes, among other things, 96 oil paintings, including the famous canvas «Disintegration permanence of memory» (the famous «soft clock», which is one of the most popular and recognizable images of the artist).

On the new building of the museum Dali said that it will be the same sign for St. Petersburg as the Eiffel Tower for Paris or the Opera House for Sydney. The building that affects its fantastic forms, designed by renowned architect Jann Ueymut (Yann Weymouth), at one time worked together with J. M. Peem (I. M. Pei) on the reconstruction of the Louvre in Paris. The museum will be like a sterile white box, which includes a giant thick glass caterpillar - composition quite in the spirit of Dali's paintings! Going to the museum, visitors can see in the lobby of a huge spiral staircase, which inspired the creators of forms ... threads of DNA. Also highly symbolic: Dali believed that DNA is a sign of divine presence in nature.

Construction of the museum has already begun. It is expected to be completed in late 2010 and the first visitors to the museum to take in early 2011-th. In addition to exhibition spaces, there is a cinema in the 90 places where the films will be shown by Dali and other artists, as well as a conference room, shop and cafe. The construction of the new building required 35 million dollars, of which have already managed to collect 25 million. In addition to the remaining 10 million, the museum also will need to get 15-20 million for operating costs.

Under the guide Michelin, Dali Museum is the best museum in the American South. He is one of the main attractions area of the Gulf of Tampa Bay. Each year the museum there is an average of 200 thousand people, most of whom come to St. Petersburg specifically to look at the works of Dali. Due to its popularity of the museum brings the region 55 million dollars a year, and it is expected that with the opening of the new building, this figure will increase significantly.

Material prepared Yulia Maksimova

Sources: salvadordalimuseum.org , artknowledgenews.com , artinvestment.ru

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