Eleanor Reese Morse, Salvador Dali Museum Founder, Lived to 97

Eleanor Reese Morse
Dali Museum Founder
October 21, 1912 - July 1, 2010

Eleanor Reese Morse, who, together with her late husband A. Reynolds Morse, founded the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida, died at home on Thursday, July 1, 2010.? She was 97 and lived in St. Petersburg, Florida.

The daughter of Cleveland pharmaceuticals manufacturer George Reese, Mrs. Morse was born in Cleveland, Ohio, where she attended Hathaway-Brown School for Girls. She received her Bachelor of Music degree from Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, and she 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.

A. Reynolds Morse and wife Eleanor Morse during the construction of the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. [Photo: St. Petersburg Times archives.]

The Morses were married on March 21, 1942. Several weeks before their wedding, they visited a traveling Dalí retrospective at the Cleveland Museum of Art organized by the Museum of Modern Art in New York and became fascinated with the artist’s work. On March 21, 1943, the Morses bought their first Dali painting—Daddy Longlegs of the Evening, Hope! (1940) as a belated wedding gift.? This was the first of many acquisitions, which would culminate 40 years later in the preeminent collection of Dalí’s work. On April 13, 1943, the Morse’s met Salvador Dalí and his wife Gala in New York initiating a long, rich friendship regularly visiting the Dalí’s villa in Port Lligat, Spain

Mrs. Morse’s linguistic background made her instrumental in translating and disseminating Dali’s writings and ideas to a wider audience. Her translations include works by and about Dalí, including Dali de Draeger (1968), The Tragic Myth of Millet’s Angelus (1986), Salvador Dali: The Work the Man by Robert Descharnes (1984), and numerous other writings.? Mrs. Morse’s contributions to the literary and artistic fields led Rollins College to confer a Doctorate of Fine Arts upon her and subsequently honored her with the Medal of Distinguished Alumna of the Year.

Twice decorated by the French government, she received the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Palmes Academiques for her scholarship and the Chevalier de l’Ordre de Palmes National du Merite for spreading French culture abroad. Mrs. Morse was the past President of Le Cercle de Conferences Françaises de Cleveland and the past President of the Federation of Alliances Françaises in the United States.