Salvador Dalí Collection: The Albaretto Family and The Nine Muses

Salvador Dalí Collection: The Albarettos and the Nine Muses

Posted January 7, 2022

In Artists & Special Collections, Salvador Dali

The close relationship between Salvador Dalí and his patrons Drs. Giuseppe and Mara Albaretto resulted in a body of stunning, career-defining artwork that includes hundreds of paintings and graphic works—several of which are on display at Park West Gallery locations around the country.

The Albaretto Collection and the Nine Muses at the Park West Museum in Southfield, MI

In the mid-1950s, Dalí met Drs. Giuseppe and Mara Albaretto, a wealthy couple who later became Dalí’s close friends and patrons. Although accounts differ about the chance meeting between Dalí and the Albarettos, it is agreed that the relationship grew because Dalí was uncharacteristically charmed by the Albarettos’ young daughter, Christiana.

Giuseppe and Mara Albaretto were taken with Dalí’s work and not only became avid collectors, but also the artist’s “Italian family.” This friendship, which lasted until Dalí’s death, resulted in Europe’s largest private collection of original Dalí artwork.

Dalí with the Albaretto family at his house in Torino (Photo credit: Eduard Fornés)

The Nine Muses of Salvador Dali

One of the most memorable series to emerge from Salvador Dalí’s work for the Albarettos was his incredible “Nine Muses” suite.

This series of hand-colored engravings on Japon paper brought to life the nine legendary muses from Greek mythology. Each muse acted as the inspiration for a range of themes and types of artistic expression.

The Nine Muses are:

Erato (love poetry and lyric poetry)
Melpomene (tragedy)
Thalia (comedy and pastoral poetry)
Clio (history)
Euterpe (flutes and music)
Uranie (astronomy)
Terpsichore (dance)
Calliope (epic poetry)
Polyhymnia (sacred poetry)

: Erato (Poetry of Love)

: Melpomene (Tragedy)

: Thalia (Comedy)

: Clio (History)

: Euterpe (Music)

: Uranie (Astronomy)

: Terpiscore (Dance)

: Calliope (Epic Poetry)

: Polyhymnia (Sacred Poetry)

View fine art selections from Park West Gallery’s Salvador Dalí collection, including images of the Nine Muses, Divine Comedy, and Biblia Sacra at the Park West Gallery locations in Honolulu, Las Vegas, or Southfield, MI, or on cruise ships all over the world!

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