Museum Founders
A. Reynolds and Eleanor Morse
The Salvador Dalí Museum was founded by long-time Dalí collectors and dear friends of the artist, Reynolds and Eleanor Morse. Their private collecting and their friendship with the artist and his wife spanned the decades from the nineteen forties to the eighties and is among the most extensive and significant relationships of patronage of the 20th century.
A. Reynolds Morse (1914-2000) was born in Denver, Colorado, where his grandfather had been a gold mining pioneer and an original founder of the Denver Museum of Natural History (now the Denver Museum of Nature and History). Mr. Morse (known to friends as Ren) earned a B.S. in geology from the University of Colorado in Boulder and then an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. A pioneer in the field of plastic injection molding, he founded the Injection Molders Supply Company in 1949 and patented molding products still used in the industry.
Recognized not only as Dalí's leading collector, but also as an authority on Dalí's art, Mr. Morse authored numerous books and articles including "Dalí: A Study of His Life and Works" published by the New York Geographic Society. A lifetime trustee of the Denver Museum of Nature and History, Mr. Morse was also an authority on West Indies writer M.P. Shiel and an active collector of works by the Western artist George Elbert Burr.
Reynolds Morse first met Eleanor Reese at the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, and the two were married in 1942. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Eleanor had earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, and continued music studies at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Italy. She later earned a Master's degree in French and Spanish from Case Western Reserve University and went on to translate a substantial amount of Dalí scholarship into English. Her translations include Dalí's "The Tragic Myth of Millet's Angelus" and Robert Descharnes' "Salvador Dalí: The Work, the Man.
A board member of the Florida Orchestra since 1986, she has been honored twice by the French government, once for her translations and again for her active role as an unofficial ambassador of French culture in the United States. Eleanor currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of the Salvador Dali Museum.
In recognition of their scholarly efforts, and by order of King Carlos of Spain, the Morses were presented with the Cross of the Officer of the Order of Isabella the Catholic in 1989. This knighting is the highest honor the Spanish government can bestow upon a non-Spanish citizen.
Click here to read more about the Morses and how the Dali Collection came to St. Petersburg, FL ...
