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Lot Essay
Robert Descharnes has confirmed the authenticity of this painting.
Portrait de Josephine Hartford Bryce is a typically lavish and sumptuous portrait by Dalí from the 1950s. Dalí portrays his sitter in flattering terms; wearing a richly embroidered dress and expensive jewellery and holding a single flower, Mrs Bryce poses in a classical, formal manner. As is often the case with Dalí's portraits, the artist subverts the idea of a direct representation of the sitter by introducing into the painting narrative elements from his own repertoire of pictorial motifs. By the lake in Dalí's empty, imaginary landscape sit an odd collection of ethereal figures, two of whom are playing accompanying music. In a further subversion of the sobriety of commissioned portraiture, one of the pine trees in the background has uprooted and is lifting into the air, adding an eccentric and somewhat comic element into the composition.
Portrait de Josephine Hartford Bryce is a typically lavish and sumptuous portrait by Dalí from the 1950s. Dalí portrays his sitter in flattering terms; wearing a richly embroidered dress and expensive jewellery and holding a single flower, Mrs Bryce poses in a classical, formal manner. As is often the case with Dalí's portraits, the artist subverts the idea of a direct representation of the sitter by introducing into the painting narrative elements from his own repertoire of pictorial motifs. By the lake in Dalí's empty, imaginary landscape sit an odd collection of ethereal figures, two of whom are playing accompanying music. In a further subversion of the sobriety of commissioned portraiture, one of the pine trees in the background has uprooted and is lifting into the air, adding an eccentric and somewhat comic element into the composition.