By Kendra Gemma
A metropolis like Paris or New York isn’t the only place where art lovers can bow down in front of a masterpiece. The St. Petersburg/Clearwater area has built a few of its own altars to honor iconic artists.

Larger-than-life figures – both modern and classical, European and American – have shrines in local museums. During your vacation, visit every venue or spend your time worshiping your favorite idol.

Those who revere several of the art world’s demigods should start their vigil in downtown St. Petersburg. It’s a veritable cathedral for masterpieces. The Museum of Fine Arts’ Howard Acheson Gallery alone offers sanctuary for adherents to 19th Century masters. The room houses pieces by the likes of worship-worthy Frenchmen Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Paul Gauguin. Claude Monet lovers will want to linger here a while to meditate on two of his paintings – a pair of Impressionistic interpretations of winter and spring in the village of Vétheuil. The museum’s Poynter Gallery serves disciples of Georgia O’Keeffe and Auguste Rodin.

For full-on idol eyeing, make a pilgrimage to downtown St. Petersburg’s Salvador Dalí Museum. Founded by A. Reynolds Morse, a collector of and authority on Dalí’s art, the museum holds the most comprehensive collection in the world, rivaling Dalí’s own museum in Spain.

The collection focuses on its namesake, who is best known for his surrealistic works. However, the Spanish artist also explored impressionism and classicism, along with religious and scientific themes. Among the 95 oil paintings are icon-inspired works, such as The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus, Slave Market with the Disappearing Bust of Voltaire and Gala Contemplating the Mediterranean Sea, Which at Twenty Meters Becomes a Portrait of Abraham Lincoln. Along with the oils, more than 1,400 watercolors, drawings, photographs, sculptures and objets d’art provide an overview of Dalí’s career, from 1917 to 1970. For a multimedia experience, you can view films about Dalí and his contemporaries. If you have any regard for the avant-garde, you should carve out time for this venue.

Tarpon Springs’ Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art honors the oeuvre of Abraham Rattner. Although not a household name, the American 20th Century figurative expressionist has paintings displayed in museums throughout the world, including the Vatican and New York City’s Museum of Modern Art. The museum, dedicated to Rattner by his stepson and fellow artist Allen Leepa, contains oils, watercolors and sculpture by the versatile artist. Pieces by Rattner’s better-known colleagues – an aquatint by Pablo Picasso, a color etching by Marc Chagall and a sculpture by Henry Moore, to name a few – also hang in the museum, making it a small chapel of contemporary art.

Believers in the brilliance of Dale Chihuly, the foremost glass artist in the United States, will have a chance to witness his miraculous feats in St. Petersburg. The Washington state-based master has plans to open a 6,000 square foot permanent exhibition gallery as part of downtown’s expanded Arts Center. To be named the Chihuly Collection at the Arts Center, the space will be devoted entirely to his creations. An opening date has not been set.

Besides these permanent temples to art-world idols, touring exhibits frequently offer opportunities to venerate members of the elite. Recent local shows have starred luminaries such as psychedelic artist Peter Max and a pantheon of modern artists, ranging from Jackson Pollock to Chuck Close.

A vacation in Florida isn’t only about worshiping the sun. Adulate your idol – American or otherwise – or discover a new favorite icon, while visiting the St. Petersburg/Clearwater area’s wealth of museums. You’ll definitely leave here feeling more spiritual.

For information, visit or call:
(Fine Arts) www.fine-arts.org or 896-2667; (Dali) www.salvadordalimuseum.org or 823-3767; (Leepa-Rattner) www.spjc.edu/central/museum/ or 712-5762; and
(Arts Center) www.theartscenter.org or 822-7872.