During a garage sale, an antique dealer buys an unpretentious work for 170 €. Two years later, she was authenticated as a Salvador Dalí and is about to be sold at auction for almost € 30,000.
The story could have remained that of a harmless purchase, relegated to the bottom of a garage. However, she takes a surrealist turn worthy of the Catalan master himself. In 2023, a British antique dealer fell on a watercolor intriguing during a garage sale in Cambridge. For 150 pounds sterling, or around € 170, he leaves with this forgotten painting, entitled Old sultan. It is only after having authenticated him that he discovers that it is indeed an original work of Salvador Dalícarried out in 1966 as part of the project A thousand and one nights.
Garage sale: a forgotten work that resurfaces
A neglected watercolor in a garage
Relegated for years in a garage, watercolor escapes all attention. His discreet appearance, far from the surreal extravagances of Salvador Dalí, contributes to his invisibility. The portrait of a sultan in the turban, treated in a sober and orientalist style, lets nothing from his prestigious origin. This aesthetic discrepancy, combined with the absence of visible signature, condemns theartwork To forget, until an informed look reveals its potential.
An instinctive purchase during a garage sale
Faced with this unpretentious exposed watercolor, theantique is not based on expertise or a certified provenance. What guides him is an intuition nourished by experience. He observes the finesse of the line, the balance of colors and a familiar strangeness in the composition. For 150 pounds sterling, or € 170 he acquires the work without guarantee, but with the conviction that it deserves to be examined, specifies The independent. This gesture, both spontaneous and enlightened, begins a unexpected rediscovery.
A revealed signature, an authenticated work
The checks carried out by experts confirm the origin of the watercolor. She is indeed a Creation of Salvador Dalícarried out in 1966 as part of the project A thousand and one nights. This cycle, interrupted after a hundred pieces, mixed oriental imaging and personal interpretation of mythical stories, explains Ouest-France. The work, long lost, finds its artistic legitimacy And sees its value multiplied by two hundred. She is now preparing to join the auction market with an estimate of 30,000 pounds sterling.
A rediscovery of a forgotten work that caused a sensation
An expected auction
Watercolor Old sultan is about to enter a new phase in its history. Next October, it will be presented during the art and design auction organized by Cheffins, in Cambridge. Experts, seduced by its rarity and origin, believe that it could reach up to 30,000 pounds sterling, or nearly 35,000 €. This spectacular leap, multiplying by two hundred its initial purchase price, stirs up the curiosity of collectors And revive the interest in the less known works of Salvador Dalí.
A forgotten project that resurfaces
Designed in the 1960s, the project A thousand and one nights had to bring together 500 works inspired by oriental stories. Salvador Dalí, fascinated by the mystical imagination and the legendary figures, begins this series before abandoning it without explanation, after a hundred pieces. Old sultanone of the rare vestiges of this cycle, reappears today as a precious witness of an unknown period. His rediscovery invites to reconsider the extent of theDalinian workbeyond surrealist icons.
A lesson on the hidden value of objects
This story illustrates with force that theart does not always be revealed in galleries or museums. A forgotten work, relegated to a garage, can contain a major signature and a buried story. It also recalls that intuition, retail sensitivity and the ability to see beyond appearances are essential qualities in the world of art. Behind this neglected watercolor, it is a artistic memory which reappears, carried by the gaze of an enlightened amateur.
