Welcome to Florida: Visit 3 new exhibitions at the Dalí Museum

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) – Just when you think you’ve seen everything there is to see at the Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, new, exciting exhibits with new technologies are added to keep all ages engaged.

Three new exhibits are opening at the museum on Saturday. They include Visual Magic: Dalí’s Masterworks in Augmented Reality, Before Dalí: Goya and Bronzes from the Vault.

If you’re looking for something fun and educational to do on a rainy Florida afternoon, Executive Director Hank Hine says these exhibits are great for families. He specifically mentioned new technology in one exhibit.

“Kids are going to love this augmented reality, because they can use their parents’ cell phone or a device from the museum and animate these paintings,” Hine said.

“Visual Magic” utilizes this augmented reality to highlight the museum’s collection of some of Dalí’s masterworks. Those masterworks are paintings larger than five feet in height or width.

Visitors can experience the new exhibit with the free Dalí Museum App. When these masterworks are viewed with the app, paintings come to life.

“You can look at Dalí and his paintings in an entirely exciting, vibrant contemporary way as the big paintings are unlocked and their images come and present themselves to you,” Hine said.

“Before Dalí” showcases the work of Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes, an influence on Dalí.
De Goya’s paintings and etchings are on exhibit on loan from a museum in Dallas.

Finally, “Bronzes from the Vault” features Dalí sculptures created between 1969-79. They are the only sculptures Dalí worked on by hand.

Twenty of the small pieces have been released from the museum’s vault to be showcased.

Four large-scale bronze sculptures based on some of these works are on display in the museum’s Avant-garden.

Hine said the motivation of the museum is to let people see Dalí’s art in a new way that’s relevant today.

“We’re very fortunate because Dalí was an artist who was always changing, always inventive. I think people sense that today, people want authenticity, but people want some kind of permission to mold their own lives,” he said.

“They don’t want to have things just one way, and Dalí is the great example of having things multiple ways. His double images tell us that the world is like this, but wait, it’s also like this, and it’s up to you to choose your path through it, change yourself as you will.”

Here is some information to help you plan your next trip to the Dalí Museum:

Ticket prices: