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A SURREAL CITY WELCOMES SALVADOR DALI
 Local Hotels, Restaurants And Shops Play Their Part To Create A City-wide Dalí Experience

PHILADELPHIA, November 15, 2004 – Philadelphia will roll out a “surreal” red carpet to embrace Salvador Dalí, the landmark retrospective exhibition on display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art from February 16 through May 15, 2005. In anticipation of the exhibition, the city’s hotels, shops, restaurants and other businesses are creating Surreal Philadelphia: The Dalí Experience, a lively dreamscape, complete with special lighting projects, Dalí-related restaurant menus and lavishly decorated retail window displays – all inspired by the startling and outrageous artistic vision that made Salvador Dalí (1904-1989) a household name.

The exhibition is sponsored by ADVANTA, which is also taking a lead role in making the project a city-wide celebration aimed at engaging Dalí-bound visitors from across the United States and beyond. Advanta has a long history of supporting the area’s cultural institutions and the company’s mission to support and service small businesses prompted the creation of the Dalí Experience.

Visitors to Philadelphia can enjoy special Dalí hotel packages created by the Museum that include overnight accommodations for two and two VIP (untimed) tickets to the exhibition. Participating hotels include the Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia, Best Western Center City Hotel, the Hilton Inn at Penn, Radisson Plaza - Warwick Hotel Philadelphia, The Ritz-Carlton Philadelphia and Park Hyatt Philadelphia at the Bellevue. Other hotels, including the Sofitel Philadelphia, are creating their own special Dalí packages. And, to increase savings for visitors, Amtrak will offer a fare discount on travel along its Northeast corridor routes to Philadelphia, which will be available on all non-Acela trains. For details on the hotel packages and Amtrak discount, visit www.philamuseum.org.

Restaurants and bars will stir special drinks such as the MELONcholy Dalí served at McCormick & Schmick’s, the Dalínean Dream cocktail (think martini glass filled with chilled pastis, citrus vodka and mango puree resulting in contemplative clouds) in the Swann Lounge of the Four Seasons, The Vertigo (a hot alcoholic beverage with whipped cream) at Twenty Manning and Dalí Sangria at Philadelphia Fish & Company. Restaurants will also dish up Dalí-inspired menus. Leading the way is the Museum Restaurant, housed in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The restaurant’s Chef Tracy Hopkins recently returned from Dalí’s native Costa Brava in Spain with a full spectrum of Catalonian culinary concepts. Other Dalí dining inspirations include the Four Seasons Fountain Restaurant’s Surreal Meal, Bliss Restaurant’s colorful six-course Dalí dinner menu and McCormick & Schmick’s “Dill E Dalí,” a dish that includes crab, shrimp and brie stuffing.

Retailers will get creative too, with lavish Dalí-inspired window displays. One retailer already planning her Dalí vision is local fashion guru Joan Shepp, whose eponymous Walnut Street boutique is known for creative designs and chic women’s apparel.

After visiting the Dalí exhibition, visitors can continue to explore Philadelphia’s modern and contemporary art collections at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, The Institute of Contemporary Art, an early champion of Andy Warhol, and The Barnes Foundation in Merion, home to one of the world's leading collections of French Impressionist and post-Impressionist paintings, including works by European modernists (and Dalí inspirations) Soutine, Modigliani, Picasso and Matisse.

Tickets go on sale to the public on December 1, 2005. Admission is $20 for adults, $17 for seniors (ages 62 and up) and students with ID and $10 for children 5-12 years old. A special student price of $12 is  available from February 16-April 1, 2005. All tickets include the exhibit audio tour.

For information about other Dalí-related happenings around town, visit the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation’s (GPTMC) Web site at www.gophila.com/dalí. For information about arts and cultural attractions elsewhere in the region, click on the CultureFiles’ link.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Additional information about citywide events will be available by November 15, 2004. 

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Note to Editors: For photos of Greater Philadelphia, visit the photo gallery of gophila.com/pressroom.  

September 2004

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