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- Collector Dominic Taglialatella has transformed a Palm Beach office building into a showroom for his personal art collection.
- The collection, named Tella Fine Art, features about 280 pieces from artists like Picasso, Warhol and Banksy.
- Taglialatella, a former gallerist, plans to use the space for art education, lectures and sales.
A landmarked two-story building in the heart of Palm Beach’s Midtown has become a curious and quiet haven for world-class art.
At 214 Brazilian Ave., Dominic Taglialatella turned a second-floor rabbit warren of hallways and offices into both a museum and showroom space. Every few feet, the collector and former gallerist has placed a work from his extensive personal collection. Even a shared kitchen is now a mini-gallery.
“This is like a smorgasbord, you know?” Taglialatella said. “It’s a variety of art that I collected over the years. And it wasn’t based on financial success, it was based on what I love.”
Taglialatella is no stranger to the art world. He owned and operated galleries in five cities including Palm Beach and New York for more than four decades before his selling his stake in the company three years ago. The galleries still bear his name, but his new enterprise goes by Tella Fine Art.
After stepping away from his previous gallery group, Taglialatella did not want to sit back and relax, he said. “I told my children that if they ever see me in a recliner watching daytime TV to shoot me on the spot,” he said, laughing. “And it happened. I had to do something.”
What began as the 84-year-old Taglialatella taking a small office in what is known as the Palm Beach Daily News Building — it housed the paper for about five decades from the 1920s to about 1974 — blossomed into its current state.
“This was a beautiful mistake,” he said. “I mean, I came here to do an office, and I wound up being able to give something back to the public. This is for Palm Beach now.”
Taglialatella’s collection consists of about 500 pieces, 280 of which are on exhibition now in the building on Brazilian Avenue, he said. Until he began hanging artwork on the office building’s walls, his collection was kept in warehouse in West Palm Beach.
Taglialatella divided the works in the exhibition into the six schools of art that are represented, such as street art, modern and contemporary, and pop art. He amassed a particularly large collection of pieces from artists in the Cobra Movement — which stands for Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam, the cities from which the artists hailed — while representing them, he said. One work by Karel Appel that hangs on a wall between the elevator and Tagliatella’s office is worth an estimated $70,000, he said.
In a recent tour of the hallways and offices, Taglialatella spoke with a cadence and knowledge earned from his decades of experience. “You have the greats,” he said, gesturing to artwork in a storage room. “You have the Picassos, you have the Chagalls, you have the modern and the pop art, with Warhol, Wesselmann. And then you have the street artists with (Mr.) Brainwash and Banksy.”
A short walk away from the storage room is a stairwell that Taglialatella transformed into what he called a “zen-like” spot featuring pieces from Chinese contemporary artist Sanzi. The pair of brooding pieces create a quiet, contemplative mood, he said. “I think it’s a mystical little room,” Taglialatella said.
Parts of his collection also count as bits of personal memorabilia, items collected from years traveling through the south of France and elsewhere in Europe. He has letters written by Pablo Picasso, and several artifacts related to Vincent van Gogh, including “the original key from the room that van Gogh passed away in,” he said. He noted that his collection is “very European and very rare.”
In the hallway just outside of his office, Taglialatella has on display artwork by Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. “These are some really cherished pieces,” he said.
Inside of his cozy office, Taglialatella has more artwork — including the small, powerful pencil drawing “Woman with Vessel” by Anton Mauve, van Gogh’s cousin, who was an influence on the post-impressionist when he was young. He also has shelves filled with art books, some of which are rare or have original lithographs or drawings done by the artists for Taglialatella.
Taglialatella enjoys teaching about art, he said. He has been a featured speaker at The Mar-a-Lago Club, where he offers an art lecture series that this year will incorporate a live piano performance, as he pairs popular works of art with well-known songs. It’s a combination he also offered on his “Art Legends Minute” segments which aired on Legends Radio WLML 100.3 FM and are available for listening on YouTube.
Taglialatella hopes to bring his passion for art education to 214 Brazilian Ave., where small groups can take tours and hear a lecture from Taglialatella in the upstairs conference room where he displays a selection of impressionist paintings.
He also plans to return to art sales and dealing, he said. It’s practically in his blood, and at the very least, in his name: In Italian, “taglia” means cut, and “tela” is canvas, indicating to Taglialatella that his family in the old country probably were canvas cutters.
“I love the art business,” Taglialatella said. “I love talking about it.”
Though the art world has changed through the years, the art business has stayed the same, he said. “The basic rules are always the same, no matter what you do,” Taglialatella said. “The ability for somebody to be successful is being able to take those basic rules and adapt to what the marketing is like today.”
The second-floor kitchen exemplifies the dynamic of the concept: Taglialatella has installed a player where people making a cup of coffee can listen to an episode of “Art Legends Minute.” Artwork by Andy Warhol hangs nearby.
“It’s a concept I like very much,” Taglialatella said, smiling. “And I have so much more.”
Tella Fine Art is open by appointment only. For more information, visit TellaFineArt.com.
Kristina Webb is a reporter for Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at kwebb@pbdailynews.com. Subscribe today to support our journalism.