To be or not to be (Hamlet; Acte III, scène 1)

Throughout his career, Dalí executed illustrations for many editions of classical literature, including Don Quixotte, The Divine Comedy and Macbeth. Salvador Dalí's Hamlet, however, commissioned from the artist by the family of the present owner in the 1960s, remained unpublished until 2014. Thus this group of works offers new and exceptional insight into Dalí's original and unique relationship with classical and literary tradition, and his constant search for an avant-garde re-interpretation of myths and iconographies.
Extremely varied in its graphic style and entrancing with its dramatic imagery, Dalí’s series of illustrations for Hamlet shows the artist’s interpretation of central figures and events in a complex and evolving narrative.
Alice and Wonderland, Odyssey, and The Old Man and The Sea are among some of the works of literature Dalí created images for, and he also paid homage to Shakespeare in several other suites but his series of illustrations for The Hamlet is considered to be one of the most impressive.
The wide range of characters that populate Shakespeare’s most celebrated tragedy enabled Dalí to visually elaborate on the themes of life and death, as in the great gouache To be or not to be (see lot 485), inner turmoil, symbolised by flowers in the watercolour dedicated to Ophelia’s death (see lot 486), and revenge, illustrated as the final act in the series (see lot 487).
The three lots presented in this sale represent only part of the series of ten gouches and watercolours, executed around 1967 by Dalí as illustrations for the portfolio of etchings which he completed a few years later. The works were commissioned in 1967 by an important European collector directly form the artist, and have since remained in the same private hands.