We ambled down to St Petersburg, stopping off for a walk along the beach and through a ‘craft’ market, (actually, I could have spent a fortune in the market!). Then driving further north we crossed many bridges over many waterways but the highlight was the spectacular Sunshine Skyway Bridge.
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We were offered a guided tour to start within minutes of our purchasing tickets at the Dali Museum. Unfortunately, more than the average number of people were also waiting for this tour and the poor bloke had a bit of a cold coming (or going) but he was a bit croaky and so he decided to give a talk instead. Really not the same thing at all but after he had finished we went back to the beginning of the collection to try to follow what he had been saying when we heard an announcement that the next guided tour was about to commence. So we joined that one as well.
She, the guide, was just like a ‘school marm’ and not just a little eccentric, pronouncing Dali as ‘Dar-lee’ (with the lee going upward in tone). Her tour was much better than the first because we were standing in front of the pictures that she was talking about and only then can one see what the guide is trying to convey.
The entire collection was purchased over a period of about 50 years by one couple who gifted it to the state of Florida because it was too big to house and too valuable to insure! But the ‘gifting’ came with certain stipulations; i.e. nothing more should be added to it, nothing can be sold off and nothing can be lent out to other galleries or museums. These stipulations, apparently, put all the existing organisations off, however, something, somewhere changed because the museum has purchased more of his work and there has been some lending and borrowing going on with other organisations..? Anyway, they are currently building a new home for the collection as they are unable to show the entire collection in its current ‘warehouse’. The new building is just south of current location and is a work of art in itself due to open at the end of this year (there is a clock counting down to opening – so I do hope they open on time!).
If you just look at the piece you will see a
picture of a naked woman looking out of a window but if you squint at it you see Ab Lincoln. Sadly my camera could only pick up the second image.I also managed to click on this painting as well before being reprimanded by one of the guards (during the tour).
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