Salvador Dali's Largest Work Is Going Under the Hammer in Paris

"Composed of 13 panels and four canvases, and measuring 65 by 100 feet, the set was produced in 1939 for Bacchanale, a performance that Dalí called his "first paranoiac-critical ballet." It premiered at the Metropolitan Opera on November 9 of that year. The set is widely considered to be Dalí's largest painting, and its central motif contains an image of the Mount of Venus."

"It unfolds a landscape that is at once mysterious and dreamlike, interwoven with mythological, artistic, and psychoanalytic references. The work immerses the viewer in Dali's surreal universe, reflecting the way the estimated price captures the significance of this monumental creation."

"For the complete artwork, Dalí also wrote a libretto and designed costumes. Other collaborators on the performance include the choreographer and Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo director Léonide Massine, and Coco Chanel, who designed some costumes that never made it to New York due to the escalating war in Europe."

Salvador Dalí's largest painting, a 65-by-100-foot stage set created in 1939 for the ballet Bacchanale at New York's Metropolitan Opera, is expected to sell for $236,000-$350,000 at Bonhams Paris on March 26. Composed of 13 panels and four canvases, the work features a central motif of the Mount of Venus and represents Dalí's first paranoiac-critical ballet. Dalí contributed the libretto and costume designs, collaborating with choreographer Léonide Massine and Coco Chanel. The auction headlines Bonhams's fourth annual Surrealism sale, featuring works by Man Ray, Francis Picabia, André Masson, and Leonor Fini, reflecting growing collector interest in Surrealist art and Paris's prominence in the global art market.

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