Clair de lune avec cygnes à Port Lligat

Details

Salvador Dalí (1904-1989)
Clair de lune avec cygnes à Port Lligat
signed and dated 'Dalí 1950' (lower centre); with a later dedication by Gala Dalí to Fleur Cowles '"If you come see me Port Lligat, I putch candle crowns on heads of swans in my harbour, Port Lligat; this my finest Dalinian greeting for you!"' (lower sheet margin)
gouache, wash and pen and ink on paper
image: 3 1/2 x 6 1/2 in. (9 x 16.5 cm.)
sheet: 6 5/8 x 9 in. (17 x 23 cm.)
Executed in 1950

Provenance

Fleur Cowles, a gift from the artist circa 1955; sale, Christie's, London, 7 February 2013, lot 269.
Private collection, Switzerland, acquired at the above sale, and thence by descent.

Special Notice

Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent. These lots have been imported from outside the EU for sale using a Temporary Import regime. Import VAT is payable (at 5%) on the Hammer price. VAT is also payable (at 20%) on the buyer’s Premium on a VAT inclusive basis. When a buyer of such a lot has registered an EU address but wishes to export the lot or complete the import into another EU country, he must advise Christie's immediately after the auction.

Brought to you by

Jessica Brook

jbrook@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2742

Lot Essay

This work is sold with a photo-certificate from Robert & Nicolas Descharnes.

Fleur Cowles (1908 - 2009) began her career as a columnist for The World Telegram but is best remembered as a style icon, pioneering editor and socialite. In 1946 she married Gardner Cowles of the Cowles Publishing Empire and in 1950, she began creating her own magazine Flair, with contributions from her friends Lucian Freud and Salvador Dalí. This friendship later resulted in the publication of her biography of the artist, The Case of Salvador Dalí (Boston, 1959).

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