DALI POPS AND POP DALI

DALI POPS AND POP DALI

Did you see that? A Salvador Dali oil on panel painting has once again set a new record at auction. They almost always do, you know.

In this case, the winner was "Etude pour 'Le Miel est plus doux que le Sang'" which, of course, you'll know is "Study for 'Honey Is Sweeter Than Blood'", a 1926 painting that has been in a private collection. In very Dalinian fashion, it contains several of the visual elements found in the work for which it is a "study", but there is little other direct correlation. The painting, which sold at Christie's, London for an astounding (but not unreasonable) $6,561,070, includes the severed head of Federico Garcia Lorca (Spanish poet and Dali's lover), a putrefied donkey, the apparatus and hand and other recognizable Dali imagery of the era.

This is clearly the best Salvador Dali painting to appear on the international auction scene in some time, but it is far from the top tier of works which, if one became available, could finally blow the top off the Dali market. It's long past time for a work by The Master to break the $20 million mark and not at all impossible for one of the best to go to $50 million or higher.

Remember, you heard it here first. How long will it take? Let the betting pools begin.


Now, in other news........ I fired up my computer to take care of some quick business before leaving for Mexico for a month, and what should Internet Explorer show me than Lady Gaga being carried into the Grammy Awards ceremony in a huge egg! That is soooooo Dalinian. Don't we have videos of Dali and Gala stepping out of better shaped giant eggs on the beach at Port Lligat? Isn't the museum in Figures at the Fundacio Gala-Salvador Dali surmounted by giant eggs? On Facebook I said, "There us nothing new on the face of the Earth since Dali."

Enrique Zepeda (that very clever Dali collector and rapidly expanding expert) responded that her name is "LADI GAGA" and he is sure it is an anagram for "Dali". I love it.

I remember when my son Duncan was young and used to watch television. I never did so he would dash in to where I was reading or writing and shout, "Dad, come on. There's and ad on TV that is straight Dali!!!" He was always right. He is very sharp on Dali images and a real joy to take to Spain. Check out the older blogs about those experiences alone in the museums with Duncan.

OK. Off to Mexico. See you from San Miguel de Alliende and I'll tell you about my visit with Enrique in Mexico City. If he doesn't show me a good time, I'll let you know.