Frogs or Flamingos?

I am far from being an art connoisseur, but I know what I like. And I visited two dynamic and beautiful museums over the last two days. But my reaction in the end was that I felt alienated by one art museum and captivated by the other. My experience was also a lesson in realizing that not just the item itself engages us, but it is the overall experience—the art itself, the museum personnel, the gallery arrangements and other intrinsic displays that capture our attention, and if we are lucky—capture our hearts.

The first museum we went to was the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg. We had visited previously before the new building was completed, probably around 2011. The old museum, although limited in space and art, was intimate and fun. We were mesmerized by some of the full wall-sized paintings that Dali had made, and the complexity that challenged us to gaze on them for long periods. After that visit, we went back two more times, and by then the new building was finished. It was beautiful.

But a couple of things had changed when we visited on Wednesday. I won’t gripe about the $10 parking fee; that’s been in place for a while. But when we walked in to the ticket desk, we discovered that tickets for seniors were $27 apiece. I don’t know how you react to that price, but that’s the same price as the senior ticket for the MOMA in New York! We didn’t dwell on the change in price (we couldn’t remember how much we’d paid the last time, but trust me, it wasn’t that expensive). The museum was very busy, and I must say that the staff were helpful, but the intimacy was gone. We enjoyed seeing paintings we were familiar with, but I think a lot of people were there so they could say “I went to the Dali” with a posh accent, of course.

But the most annoying part was that they had built a large dome on the property. We didn’t want to miss this addition, so we headed out to the dome in the gardens. As we approached the entrance, we were stopped by a firm young man, asking us if we were there for the next show. Show? We blinked at him, confused, and then he explained that they showed a movie in the dome. That would cost us another $15.00 each. We were there with a friend of mine, and none of us had seen any signage (which is not to say it wasn’t there), but we already had learned a lot about Dali and his wife and didn’t need to pay to hear it all over again. We trudged away from the entrance, and went for a walk to the pier. On reflection, I was trying to figure out why the visit to the Dali was disappointing, and I realized it wasn’t really the fault of the museum. The intimacy was gone, the crowds were uncomfortable (and this was on a week-day), and I knew that I had held on to my past vision of the museum for too long.

It had gone commercial.

In sharp contrast, we visited a fairly new museum called the Imagine Museum which exhibited contemporary glass art. (Take a moment to look at some of the art displayed on the website.) We were blown away on so many levels. (If you know St. Pete, you know that Dale Chihuly, glass blower, also has a small museum that we had visited previously.) The Imagine Museum was remarkable. I never realized there were so many different ways to produce glass art and with so many media. We were captivated by the beauty of the pieces, the mastery, the colors, the use of angles and mirrors—I’ve seen glass art before, but nothing like these pieces. We walked slowly down the first-floor hall, stopping to admire each piece. On the walls were displayed several oversized Japanese silk kimonos that were a treat themselves. Also, on the walls were complementary quotations from people like Albert Einstein, Maya Angelou and Martin Luther King. It felt open, spacious, and yet intimate and engaging.

When we finished walking through the first-floor galleries, we went up to the second floor and were greeted at the top of the staircase by a member of the staff. She told us with a great enthusiasm that we were invited to a scavenger hunt. (I could hear Jerry’s eyes roll.) I was not excited at first, but her invitation was so sincere and engaging that we took the sheet that would help us track the tiny frog or flamingo that was hidden around a piece of art in each gallery. Before we knew it, we were not only admiring the art, but looking for the hidden creature. We got into it so much that I had to tell Jerry to stop staring at me when he found one of them, since I wanted the delight of finding it myself. The activity might sound silly, but we had a great time. I thought that those people who were not into the art, as well as children, had to find the hunt such fun. It definitely captured my inner child. The “reward” for finding all of them was a little certificate, a sweet memento of our visit.

* * * *

I will continue to be an admirer of Salvador Dali with all his eccentricities and talents. I may even make another trip to the museum one day. But it doesn’t call to me in the same way it used to. And the next time I go to St. Petersburg, I will definitely visit the Imagine Museum. The exquisite pieces will stay with me for a while. I hope they continue to grow in their popularity and high regard.

I wonder if they’ll continue having the scavenger hunt?