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Lot Essay
Salvador Dali (1904-1989), famous for his elongated curly moustache and eccentric appearance, was one of the most iconic surrealist artists of the 20th century and the painter of the celebrated painting of melting clocks in a landscape setting “The Persistence of Memory” dated 1931. In the 1920s, Dali was introduced to the nascent Surrealist movement in Paris by artists such as Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, René Magritte and the French poet Paul Éluard. Drawn to the Surrealist movement’s exploration of the subconscious to enhance artistic creativity, Dali became one of its most avid spokesman. In 1929, Dalí met Elena Dmitrievna Diakonova, a Russian immigrant. Also known as “Gala”, Diakonova was Dali’s muse and inspiration who appeared in many of Dali’s paintings. In the 1930s, Dali’s reputation as a Surrealist artist grew in Europe and his scenes of dreamlike reality met with much success among collectors of modern art. During the Second World War, Dali and Gala fled to the USA where he broke with other surrealist artists and continued to paint in his own style creating a personal iconography of religious and scientific imagery. Remembered for his flamboyant personality and appearance, Dali’s legacy includes his collaboration with filmmaker Luis Bunuel on Un Chien Andalou (1929) and L'Age d'Or (1930), and designed the dream sequence for Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound (1945) as well as his Dali Theatre-Museum in his hometown Figueres in Spain where he was born and lived his final years.
In the latter half of the 1960s, Piaget embarked on its most avant-garde collaboration to date. Dali had a lifetime attraction to gold and indulged his passion by minting his own line of engraved gold coins. In 1967, Piaget released a limited edition collection of watches, jewellery and collection crafted with coins from the Dali mint which was unveiled in Paris with Dali presiding in a transparent inflatable chair. The coin in this most original set of watch, cufflinks, key ring, tie clip and ring depicted, in all probability, Dali and Gala as a loving couple amidst a landscape of flowers.
In the latter half of the 1960s, Piaget embarked on its most avant-garde collaboration to date. Dali had a lifetime attraction to gold and indulged his passion by minting his own line of engraved gold coins. In 1967, Piaget released a limited edition collection of watches, jewellery and collection crafted with coins from the Dali mint which was unveiled in Paris with Dali presiding in a transparent inflatable chair. The coin in this most original set of watch, cufflinks, key ring, tie clip and ring depicted, in all probability, Dali and Gala as a loving couple amidst a landscape of flowers.