The Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Fla. (Photo provided by Ebyabe)

By DARLA MCCAMMON,
Lakeland Art Association

WARSAW — In the U.S. alone there are over 35,000 museums. According to the Washington Post this is a larger number than McDonald’s and Starbucks locations-combined. This number has almost doubled in the last twenty years when there were only 17,000 such facilities.

Of these numbers there are 6,500 art galleries and museums whose revenues total about $8 billion dollars per year. Art galleries offer exhibits but also sell the art on their walls and on their shelves and pedestals. Museums, on the other hand, may offer to sell prints and items associated with art in their gift shops, but generally their permanent collections and work hanging on the walls will not be for sale. Most art galleries are for-profit businesses, while most museums are not-for-profit entities. Some, like our local Lakeland Art Association, are technically galleries that sell the art on their walls but they operate under a not-for-profit umbrella due to their mission statement and outreach to the community.

Take a look at a magnificent art museum you may want to visit in the future if you are ever in Florida: The Dali Museum. This extraordinary museum is located on the waterfront in St. Petersburg, Fla. In keeping with Salvador Dali’s penchant for the surreal, the architecture is a sweeping monument to his style. This museum houses the largest collection of work by Dali outside his home in Figueres, Catalonia, Spain.

The building in Florida cost over $30 million to construct and features lots of glass in places like skylights and an enormous 75-foot tall entry of more 1.5-inch thick glass and a spiral stairway. Walls to protect the contents from hurricanes are created from 18-inch thick concrete.

This dream museum was a result of a decision made by a young married couple in 1942 named Morse. They saw Dali’s work in a Cleveland exhibit and purchased a painting that began a 40 year collection that totaled over 200 pieces. Realizing they needed to share their extensive collection they built a museum in Ohio and moved it two times before settling on the current location in Florida.

The collection includes 7 of Dali’s “masterwork” paintings, one of which is most famous and created in 1931 called “Persistence of Memory,” or more familiarly, “Melting Clocks.” We will expand on Salvador Dali and his life and style in a future column, but meantime, if you are going to be on Florida’s beautiful West Coast, you will not be sorry you dropped in to see not only the building, but Dali’s work along with the only permanent exhibit of our favorite glass artist Dale Chihuly, which is also housed in this museum. Hope you have a chance to go see it.

Upcoming and Current Events:

• Exhibit of Senior Art Student Show from Grace College at Warsaw City Hall. 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.
• LAA gallery now open from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Wednesday to Saturday, 302 E. Winona Ave.
  
• The fourth Monday of each month, visit the new LAA Gallery in the evening for special programs. Call (574) 269-1101 for dates, subject of the program, and times.

For more information contact your author/artist Darla McCammon at [email protected]. Or website at www.darlamc.com.