ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — As unlikely as this sun-kissed town is to house the largest Salvador Dali museum outside of Europe, the building in which it was housed for 28 years was even less likely.
I had visited that space only once before but remember it as disjointed and oppositional to Dali's world, where you want to move as freely from painting to painting as the artist did on canvas. Dali takes you on a journey; the dark building, full of odd corners, did not. Now I know why: The old museum was housed in a converted marine storage warehouse.
Fortunately the new $36 million Dali Museum that opened Jan. 11 — 1/11/11 — at 11 a.m. more than cures those ills. The master surrealist has a proper American home.
Set beside a marina along Tampa Bay, the museum is more than twice the size of its predecessor and pays homage to Dali at every turn: from the gift shop to the architecture to the cafe serving serrano ham, manchego cheese and pink cava. It is a free and open space, and, unlike the last museum, full of warm St. Petersburg light.