Major new Dali Museum set to open in Florida

[January 11, 2011]  ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- A new museum showcasing a leading collection of works by Surrealist master Salvador Dali is set to open in Florida.

The ribbon-cutting for the museum in St. Petersburg will be held Tuesday morning.

It replaces a previous museum based around a private Dali collection that St. Petersburg acquired in 1982. The new, $36 million museum is double the size of the old building.

The St. Petersburg museum is considered to have the world's most comprehensive collection of the Spanish artist's work.

The core of the museum's art was collected by an Ohio philanthropist couple -- A. Reynolds and Eleanor Morse -- who bought their first Dali painting in 1942 and continued collecting his works for years.

[Associated Press]

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