Salvador Dalí (1904 – 1989)
PORTRAIT OF MRS HARRISON WILLIAMS
1,500,000 – 2,000,000 GBP
signed Gala Salvador Dalí and dated 1943 (lower left)
oil on canvas
91.8 by 61.4cm.
36 1/8 by 24 1/8 in.
Painted in 1943.
“A strange society portrait by Salvador Dali, “Portrait of Mrs. Harrison Williams” (1943), drew strong bidding, selling for £2,281,250 ($3,589,319) (est. £1.5-2 million). Its subject, Mona Bismarck, was a glamorous figure from the 1940s, married to reputedly the richest man in America. The work was sold to benefit the Mona Bismarck American Center for Art and Culture.”
From: http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/864198/picasso-and-a-trio-of-schieles-lead-sothebys-190-million-night
“LONDON.- On 5 February 2013, Sotheby’s London will offer for sale one of Salvador Dalí’s most accomplished portraits: Portrait of Mrs Harrison Williams, commissioned directly from the artist and painted by him in 1943. Estimated at £1.5-2 million, the painting -offered for the first time at auction – will highlight Sotheby’s stand-alone sale of Surrealist Art, to be held alongside the company’s Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale in London. The work depicts Countess Mona Bismarck (1897-1983), who was at the time of the portrait married to Harrison Williams, reputed to be one of the wealthiest men in America. After their marriage in 1926 she swiftly became known as one of the most glamorous and beautiful women of her day; becoming the first American to be ‘the best-dressed woman in the world’ by the luminaries of fashion.
Helena Newman, Chairman of Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art Department Europe, said: “ Of all the portraits Dalí painted, few are as striking as this: the dazzling manner in which the sitter is represented amid an accumulation of Surrealist motifs defines it as the perfect encapsulation of the work he produced at the zenith of his career. The fruits of Dalí’s prodigious subconscious are here represented with pristine detail. This exceptional work comes to sale at time when demand for Surrealist works of great quality is at an all-time high: in February 2011 Sotheby’s London sold Dalí’s Portrait de Paul Éluard for a record sum of £13.5m ($21.7m)”
From: http://www.alaintruong.com/archives/2013/02/04/26324730.html
