The Portrait That Set Salvador Dali's Auction Record—And Transformed His Life
3 min read · 03 Feb 2025
Portrait De Paul Éluard. Image courtesy of Sotheby's
Salvador Dali, Portrait De Paul Éluard (1929), sold for $21.71m (£13.48m), at Sotheby's in London on February 10, 2011.
The oil on board work remained in Salvador and Gala Dalí's collection for many decades. After Gala's death in 1982, the work was given to Gala and Eluard's daughter, Cécile Eluard.
Dalí first met the French Surrealist poet Eluard in 1929 in Paris, when the young artist was assisting Luis Buñuel with the filming of Un Chien Andalou. Dalí invited his new Surrealist friends to spend the summer with him in Cadaqués in Spain. The visitors included Eluard, his Russia-born wife Gala, and their daughter Cécile, as well as Buñuel and René Magritte with accompanied by his wife.
The summer proved to be major turning point for the 25-year-old painter, who fell madly in love with Gala. She would soon leave her husband and child, to become Dalí's muse, wife and shrewd manager.
The Surrealist masterwork has been exhibited in several major Dalí shows, including in MoMA (1965-66), the Musée National d'Art Moderne in Paris, (1979-80) and London's Tate Gallery (1980).
Etude pour 'Le miel est plus doux que le sang'. Image courtesy of Christie's
The sale beat Dalí's previous auction record by $15.16m, a 225% rise. The previous record was set by Etude pour 'Le miel est plus doux que le sang' (1926), which sold for $6.55m at Christie's on February 9, 2011. The work had not been traded before.
A Brief History of Salvador Dali at Auction
Sale Date | Title | Price | Record Increase | Venue | City |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2011-02-10 | Portrait De Paul Éluard | $21.71m | 231 % | Sotheby's | London |
2011-02-09 | Etude pour 'Le miel est plus doux que le sang' | $6.55m | 15 % | Christie's | London |
2010-05-05 | Spectre Du Soir Sur La Plage | $5.68m | 42 % | Sotheby's | New York |
2009-11-03 | Nu dans la plaine de Rosas | $4m | 6 % | Christie's | New York |
2000-12-04 | Ma femme nue regardant son propre corps devenir marches | $3.78m | 2 % | Sotheby's | London |
1990-05-15 | Assumpta corpuscularia lapislazulina | $3.7m | 68 % | Christie's | New York |
1987-11-11 | The battle of Tetuan | $2.2m | 173 % | Sotheby's | New York |
1981-03-30 | Le Sommeil | $805,500 | 229 % | Christie's | London |
1974-05-02 | Resurrection of the flesh | $245,000 | 142 % | Sotheby's | New York |
1900-01-01 | Salvador Dalí Tristan et Iseult. Folge von 15 signierten Orig.-Farbkaltnadelradierungen mit dem Text in der Überarbeitung von L. Lacina | $101,400 | - | Ketterer Kunst | Hamburg |
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