Two recently rediscovered paintings by Salvador Dali are set to appear in Sotheby’s Surrealist Art Evening Sale on February 28.
Both Gradiva (1931) and Maison pour érotomane (circa 1932) were acquired from the artist by the Countess de Cuevas de Vera.
De Vera, known to her friends as Tota, was born to a noble Argentinian family and travelled widely in Europe during the 1920s and 1930s.
Gradiva (1931) is named after a novel by Wilhelm Jenson
While there she moved in the same circles as some of the more influential surrealists.
Gradiva is an interesting painting, as the title reveals a lot about Dali’s process.
It's a reference to the 1903 novel of the same name by German writer Wilhelm Jenson, which tells the story of an academic who becomes obsessed with a Roman bas relief of a woman - only to realise later that he has been projecting his infatuation with a childhood friend.
The influential psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud used the novel as the basis for a 1907 essay on “cure by seduction”.
Dali also used “Gradiva” as a nickname for his wife Gala.
The piece is valued at £1.2m-1.8m ($1.6m-2.5m).
Maison pour érotomane features an identical estimate.
It’s a classically unsettling Dali landscape, painted during the most fertile period of his career. Two towering anthropomorphic figures appear to do battle in the background, while two small figures (Dali and his wife Gala) embrace.
We have a wonderful piece of original Salvador Dali artwork for sale.
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