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St. Pete/Clearwater, known as the home for America's Top Rated beaches, adds another #1 beach. Fort De Soto Park has been named America's top beach for 2009 by TripAdvisor, the world's largest online travel community. Check it out, as well as other top rated standouts.
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The Natural Way
Combining the outdoors with just about any other interest is possible along the Florida's Beach area, leaving option after option for Mom, Dad and the kids.
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All Itineraries
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You Are Here: Home » Things to Do » Museums & Galleries » Museum and Gallery Highlights »
From Salvador Dali to an expansive collection of art galleries, the St. Petersburg/ Clearwater area has an artistic taste for everyone's palette.
Long famous for its beaches, weather and wealth of water-related activities, St. Petersburg/Clearwater is also fast becoming the cultural center of Florida. No other beach destination in Florida offers award-winning beaches with such a variety of museums and art galleries throughout 26 unique communities.
Begin with the world famous Salvador Dali Museum. This facility offers the most comprehensive collection in the world devoted exclusively to this Spanish master. Located on the scenic St. Petersburg waterfront, the museum houses 94 oils, numerous watercolors, sketches, sculptures and other objects of art, more than 2,500 items in total.
Most Dali novices are surprised to learn that the artist was so much more than a noted surrealist. In his early years, Dali's early works are full of wonderful landscapes, portraits and still lifes. His later works astound with fascinating double images and immense religious paintings. Of the 18 so-called "Masterworks" produced by Dali, six are located in the St. Petersburg museum.
St. Petersburg is home to another major museum with a growing international reputation. The Florida International Museum opened in 1995. The museum has featured temporary exhibitions in association with the Smithsonian. Now part of St. Petersburg College, the Museum is home to featured works of the former Gulf Coast Art Museum (which closed in 2008). The exhibit highlights more than 125 works by significant contemporary Florida artists and fine craftsmen from the Southeast.
The Museum of Fine Arts, also in St. Petersburg, is highly respected throughout the southeastern United States and is best known for its collection of French impressionist paintings, along with European, American, pre-Columbian and Far Eastern art. Special exhibits feature works on loan from other metropolitan museums.
Not far from the Museum of Fine Arts but ages away, is Great Explorations, an interactive children's museum. It's a great place to spend an hour or two if the kids need a break from the beach.
The St. Petersburg Museum of History presents area history through a diverse collection of exhibits reflecting our unique location and cultural heritage. Also focused on area history, the Carter G. Woodson African American History Museum is dedicated to preserving, presenting and interpreting the area's African American history.
The Florida Holocaust Museum in downtown St. Petersburg is the only Holocaust museum to feature continual Holocaust art exhibits and is dedicated to the memory of millions.
The third largest Holocaust museum in the United States, the facility's centerpiece permanent exhibit is a boxcar used to transport people to Nazi concentration camps.
At last count, nearly 30 art galleries are located in the downtown St. Petersburg area including the state headquarters for the Florida Craftsmen Association and signature gallery for noted artist P. Buckley Moss.
The Morean Arts Center, conveniently located in downtown St. Petersburg on Central Avenue, is a non-profit arts institution dedicated to exhibiting contemporary art and teaching the visual arts. Rotating exhibitions showcase international, national and regional artists year-round, complementing studio classes in all media for adults and youth. The Arts Center is the future home of the first ever permanent collection of Chihuly works in glass, to be called the Chihuly Collection at the Arts Center. An active glassblowing hot shop is part of the Arts Center expansion, planned for late 2010. End your visit with a stop to the Gallery Shop, where you will find original artwork and art-inspired gifts.
The Downtown Arts Association features a Monthly Gallery Walk in St. Petersburg. Visitors start at Gallery Central (on Central Avenue between 4th and 8th Streets) and travel from there to the Waterfront, the Dome and SoHo Art Districts and then on to 4th and 9th Streets North. Tours are given from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. on the second Saturday monthly.
Just west of St. Petersburg is the city of Gulfport. Gulfport's Art Village features more than 40 galleries, studios, boutiques and restaurants all within walking distance in this pedestrian-friendly historic district. Gallery Walks with free trolley service, street entertainment and snacks run from 6-10 p.m. the first Friday and third Saturday of the month.
Numerous other galleries are located throughout the area, especially in downtown Dunedin and Tarpon Springs.
The Dunedin Fine Arts Center features a variety of exhibitions, workshops and demonstrations to foster the growth and development of visual arts. It is also home to the David L. Mason Children's Art Museum. This museum presents interactive exhibits that help children, in partnership with adults, to be creative and get a new understanding of the arts.
The Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art opened in 2002 on the Tarpon Springs Campus of St. Petersburg College. The Museum's 6,000-piece 20th century collection includes works by Pablo Picasso, Henry Moore, Marc Chagall, Auguste Herbin, Georges Rouault, Hans Hofmann and Max Ernst. The Museum is made up of art from Abraham Rattner's estate donated by Allen and Isabelle Leepa and includes lithographs, tapestries, sculptures, paintings and stained glass.
For a complete list of area art galleries click here.
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