Rare Dalí Exhibition Brings Jewish History Into Focus in St. Petersburg

ST. PETERSBURG — A rarely displayed series by Salvador Dalí is giving museum visitors a chance to discover a different side of an artist whose name is closely associated with melting clocks and dreamlike landscapes.

The Florida Holocaust Museum opened Dalí’s Aliyah on October 7 in partnership with neighboring institution The Dalí Museum. Featuring 23 of the suite’s 25 works, the exhibition continues through early January 2027. The light-sensitive graphics offer a limited opportunity to see a project connecting artistic imagination with Jewish history.

Completed in 1968, the series commemorated the 20th anniversary of Israel’s founding. Dalí drew upon biblical narratives and contemporary history, addressing Jewish experience across more than 2,000 years. The resulting works connect ancient traditions with the upheavals and aspirations of the modern era.

The original compositions used gouache, watercolor and Indian ink on paper before being reproduced as lithographs. Published in a limited edition of 250 sets, the portfolio demonstrates how Dalí carried his distinctive visual language beyond painting into works intended to circulate among collectors.

Individual titles reveal the project’s emotional range. Cornell University’s Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art catalogs images including The Wailing Wall, The Battle of the Jerusalem Hills and The Price-Bereavement. Together, those subjects suggest a narrative encompassing sacred places, conflict and personal loss.

For viewers familiar primarily with Dalí’s surrealist reputation, the exhibition offers another point of entry: an artist engaging with the weight of collective memory. Its setting encourages visitors to consider how imagery can carry stories of displacement, survival and renewal across generations.

The collaboration also creates a connection between two St. Petersburg institutions with different collecting and educational missions. Here, an encounter with art becomes an invitation to examine history, while historical context gives the images additional meaning.

A related October 20 program will feature Peter Tush, curator and senior interpreter at The Dalí Museum. Scheduled from 6:30 to 8 p.m., the conversation will explore the exhibition’s themes. Admission to the program is free for Florida Holocaust Museum members and $5 for nonmembers; Dalí Museum members can also attend free using the museum’s designated promotional code.

The exhibition’s appeal lies in that opportunity to look again. Even an internationally recognizable artist can still surprise audiences when a less familiar body of work receives sustained attention.