- 33
Salvador Dalí
Estimate
70,000 - 100,000 EUR
bidding is closed
Description
- Salvador Dalí
- Christ
- signé Dalí et daté 1970 (en bas à gauche)
- aquarelle et techniques mixtes sur papier
- 99,2 x 59,3 cm ; 39 x 23 3/8 in.
Provenance
Succession Gala Dali
Succession Cécile Eluard
Collection particulière, Paris
Succession Cécile Eluard
Collection particulière, Paris
Literature
Robert Descharnes et Gilles Néret, Salvador Dalí, L'œuvre peint, vol. II, 1946-1989, Paris, 1993, no. 1322, reproduit p. 593
Condition
Executed on wove paper, taped to the mount along the upper edge. The sheet is slightly undulating. There is a 3cm vertical tear to the top edge slightly to the right of the figure's head and there are a few further very small tears and nicks to the extreme edges that can easily be repaired. This work is in good condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
Catalogue Note
signed 'Dalí' and dated '1970' (lower left); watercolour and mixed media on paper. Executed in 1970.
The English translation of this note follows the French
Notice de catalogue
A partir du début des années 1950, Dali conjugue sa passion préexistante pour l’inconscient à un intérêt grandissant pour le mysticisme religieux. De manière a priori paradoxale, il est probable que sa rencontre avec Freud en 1938 ait été décisive. Il faut en effet rappeler le scepticisme de Freud à l’égard du surréalisme et le fait qu’il appliquait ses propres méthodes à des œuvres de la Renaissance italienne. Aussi, serait-ce par le biais de la psychanalyse que Dali, absolument hostile à l’abstraction, se tourne vers les thèmes catholiques de la tradition que Freud lui-même qualifie de “classique”. A partir de son Manifeste mystique (1951), à rebours du goût surréaliste épuisé pour le blasphème et le sacrilège, Dali explore la veine religieuse de la peinture dans l’intention de conférer un caractère solide, autrement dit "classique", au surréalisme, du moins au surréalisme tel qu’il le conçoit. Dans Les Passions selon Dali (1968), il écrit : "Freud a prononcé la sentence de mort du surréalisme en tant qu’école picturale, et de tout art sans structure i contrainte formelle quand il m’a dit:
"Dans une peinture classique, je cherche le subconscient ; dans une peinture surréaliste, je ne trouve que du conscient." André Breton méprisait Raphaël par anticléricalisme primaire. Il ne pouvait supporter l’image d’un Christ ou d’un Madone. Mais il ne voyait pas qu’à travers la convention, la langage subversif du subconscient s’exprime de manière beaucoup plus intense et authentique que dans l’anarchie élaborée d’un tableau surréaliste. C’est pourquoi je m’efforce fanatiquement de retrouver la grande tradition".
Catalogue note
From the beginning of the 1950s, Dali combined his pre-existing passion for the unconscious with a growing interest in religious mysticism. In a theoretically paradoxical manner, it is probable that his encounter with Freud in 1938 was decisive. It is indeed important to remember Freud’s scepticism in regard to Surrealism and the fact that he applied his own methods to works from the Italian Renaissance. Thus, it may have been through psychoanalysis that Dali, absolutely hostile to abstraction, turned towards Catholic traditional themes that Freud himself qualified as “classical”. From his Manifeste mystique (1951), as opposed to the surrealist spent taste for blasphemy and sacrilege, Dali explored the religious vein of painting with the intention of endowing a solid in other words “traditional” character upon surrealism, at least on the surrealism as he conceived of it. In Les Passions selon Dali (1968), he writes: “Freud pronounced Surrealism’s death sentence as a pictorial school, and of all art without structure or formal restriction when he said to me: “In a traditional painting, I look for the unconscious; in a surrealist painting, I find only the conscious.” André Breton was contemptuous of Raphael with primary anticlericalism. He could not bear the image of a Christ or a Madonna. But he did not see only through convention, the subversive language of the unconscious expressed itself in a much more intense and authentic manner than in the anarchy elaborated by a surrealist painting. This is why I force myself to go back to great tradition.”
The English translation of this note follows the French
Notice de catalogue
A partir du début des années 1950, Dali conjugue sa passion préexistante pour l’inconscient à un intérêt grandissant pour le mysticisme religieux. De manière a priori paradoxale, il est probable que sa rencontre avec Freud en 1938 ait été décisive. Il faut en effet rappeler le scepticisme de Freud à l’égard du surréalisme et le fait qu’il appliquait ses propres méthodes à des œuvres de la Renaissance italienne. Aussi, serait-ce par le biais de la psychanalyse que Dali, absolument hostile à l’abstraction, se tourne vers les thèmes catholiques de la tradition que Freud lui-même qualifie de “classique”. A partir de son Manifeste mystique (1951), à rebours du goût surréaliste épuisé pour le blasphème et le sacrilège, Dali explore la veine religieuse de la peinture dans l’intention de conférer un caractère solide, autrement dit "classique", au surréalisme, du moins au surréalisme tel qu’il le conçoit. Dans Les Passions selon Dali (1968), il écrit : "Freud a prononcé la sentence de mort du surréalisme en tant qu’école picturale, et de tout art sans structure i contrainte formelle quand il m’a dit:
"Dans une peinture classique, je cherche le subconscient ; dans une peinture surréaliste, je ne trouve que du conscient." André Breton méprisait Raphaël par anticléricalisme primaire. Il ne pouvait supporter l’image d’un Christ ou d’un Madone. Mais il ne voyait pas qu’à travers la convention, la langage subversif du subconscient s’exprime de manière beaucoup plus intense et authentique que dans l’anarchie élaborée d’un tableau surréaliste. C’est pourquoi je m’efforce fanatiquement de retrouver la grande tradition".
Catalogue note
From the beginning of the 1950s, Dali combined his pre-existing passion for the unconscious with a growing interest in religious mysticism. In a theoretically paradoxical manner, it is probable that his encounter with Freud in 1938 was decisive. It is indeed important to remember Freud’s scepticism in regard to Surrealism and the fact that he applied his own methods to works from the Italian Renaissance. Thus, it may have been through psychoanalysis that Dali, absolutely hostile to abstraction, turned towards Catholic traditional themes that Freud himself qualified as “classical”. From his Manifeste mystique (1951), as opposed to the surrealist spent taste for blasphemy and sacrilege, Dali explored the religious vein of painting with the intention of endowing a solid in other words “traditional” character upon surrealism, at least on the surrealism as he conceived of it. In Les Passions selon Dali (1968), he writes: “Freud pronounced Surrealism’s death sentence as a pictorial school, and of all art without structure or formal restriction when he said to me: “In a traditional painting, I look for the unconscious; in a surrealist painting, I find only the conscious.” André Breton was contemptuous of Raphael with primary anticlericalism. He could not bear the image of a Christ or a Madonna. But he did not see only through convention, the subversive language of the unconscious expressed itself in a much more intense and authentic manner than in the anarchy elaborated by a surrealist painting. This is why I force myself to go back to great tradition.”