Salvador Dalí

SALVADOR DALÍ I DOMÈNECH (Figueras, Girona, 1904 - 1989).
"Homage to Ramon Llull", 1975.
Gouache on paper.
Signed in the lower right corner.
With certificates of authenticity from Perrot-Moore and Robert Descharnes.
Work reproduced in the book "Dalí" of the publishing house Taschen.
Preparatory gouache for one of the four pendentives that support the dome of the entrance hall of the Palacete Albéniz in Barcelona. In these pendentives Dalí represented historical characters linked to Barcelona: Ramon Llull, Joan Maragall, Christopher Columbus and Miguel de Cervantes.
Measurements: 52 x 59 cm.

The gouache that we are now auctioning is not only a key example of the surrealist aesthetics that catapulted Salvador Dalí to fame, but it is also linked to the fascinating history of the Albéniz Palace, one of the most unique and least known buildings in Barcelona. The Palacete, built at the beginning of the 20th century for the 1929 Universal Exposition, acquired a special significance in 1969. That year, a circular canvas by the Empordà artist was placed in its main lobby. Adapted to the vaulted shape of the hall, Dalí's work depicts nude figures under the Portlligat sky, as well as a tribute to Neil Armstrong's landing on the moon. Accompanying this central piece are four oil paintings in the corners of the vault, dedicated by Dalí to historical figures with strong ties to Barcelona: Ramon Llull, Joan Maragall, Miguel de Cervantes and Christopher Columbus.

Specifically, Dalí pays homage in this composition to Ramon Llull, the 13th century Mallorcan philosopher and mystic, famous for his Ars Magna, a combinatorial method for arriving at the truth through diagrams and symbols. The staggered structure and the cross of letters evoke these logical and mnemonic diagrams that Llull devised to systematize knowledge and unite faith with reason. The human silhouette (a woman's bust), which merges with an open sky and the radiant sun, suggests the union between the earthly and the divine, a recurring metaphor in Dalí to express the connection between human thought and transcendent illumination. The solid base of the silhouette and the architectural supports reinforce the idea of Llull as a pillar of medieval mystical and scientific thought.

In formal terms, the composition is typically surrealist: it combines mystical symbols (the cross, the light, the fragmented figure) with an abstract representation of space. The inner emptiness within the human form alludes to the idea that true knowledge resides in the mind, in interiority, beyond physical appearance.

This design, conceived for a ceiling fresco, is perfectly suited to the function: the viewer would look up and encounter this opening to infinity, a visual reminder of the ascent of thought toward the light of knowledge.

Dalí, with his characteristic surrealism laden with religious and scientific allusions, translates Llull's medieval vision into a modern, dreamlike, almost metaphysical visual language.

During his early years, Dalí discovered contemporary painting during a family visit to Cadaqués, where he met the family of Ramón Pichot, an artist who traveled regularly to Paris. Following Pichot's advice, Dalí began to study painting with Juan Núñez. In 1922, Dalí stayed at the famous Residencia de Estudiantes in Madrid to begin studying Fine Arts at the San Fernando Academy. However, before his final exams in 1926, he was expelled for claiming that there was no one there fit to examine him. That same year Dalí traveled to Paris for the first time. There he met Picasso, and established some formal characteristics that would become distinctive of all his work from then on. During this period, Dalí held regular exhibitions in both Barcelona and Paris, and joined the surrealist group based in the Parisian neighborhood of Montparnasse. The painter landed in America in 1934, thanks to art dealer Julian Levy. As a result of his first individual exhibition in New York, his international projection was definitively consolidated, and since then he has been showing his work and giving lectures all over the world. Most of his production is gathered in the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueras, followed by the collection of the Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg (Florida), the Reina Sofía in Madrid, the Salvador Dalí Gallery in Pacific Palisades (California), the Espace Dalí in Montmartre (Paris) or the Dalí Universe in London.