Purchased in the 1970s for 500 pounds during an art gallery closing sale, these eleven works discovered by chance sparked great enthusiasm.
A total of eleven lithographs by the Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali (1904-1989), which had been stored in a London garage and forgotten for 50 years, sparked excitement on Monday at auction in London.
The lithographs, which were found while the seller was cleaning out his garage in the British capital’s upscale Mayfair, had been purchased in the 1970s for £500 at an art gallery closing sale .
Chris Kirkham, associate director of the Hansons Richmond auction house, told AFP that each lot had been sold for a price above its base estimate of 500 to 700 pounds (between 601 and 841 euros). . The most sought-after lot – a colored lithograph with nude figures, a limited edition signed by the artist himself – went for 4,900 pounds (or 5,889 euros).
Prices much lower than other sales of Dali’s works. In 2011, the Portrait of Paul Eluarddating from 1929, was sold for the astronomical sum of 13.5 million pounds (or more than 16 million euros) at Sotheby’s in London.
But for Chris Kirkham, the sale at Hansons Richmond has attracted global interest, with demand “exceptional”. These lithographs “kind of check a lot of boxes. You have a strong artist who has lasting appeal. They are vibrant and colorful, which makes them commercial, and I think they would probably suit any home”he comments. “They’re nice and big, they’re decorative, so they offer a nice mix of things.”he continues.
Furthermore, the sale is an example of how online auctions have enabled more private buyers to acquire works of art at competitive prices, he noted. Before adding: “We have a lady who bought three today. She saw them in the press and she wants them for her house, on a wall, which is very good, because ten years ago, these kinds of sales were intended for professionals who were only looking to resell the objects acquired”.
