Why India is attracting rare Salvador Dali art
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. For much of her childhood, Christine Argillet’s family spent summers in Spain with the artist Salvador Dali. He used to affectionately call her “the little infante".
Her father, Pierre, a freelance journalist, photographer and publisher, became one of the most important collectors of works by Futurists, Dadaists and Surrealists. Through his publishing company, Editions Pierre Argillet (later renamed Graphik Europa until it wound up in 2001), he encouraged European avant-garde artists such as Marcel Duchamp, Giorgio de Chirico, Jean Arp and Dali to create original prints. Later, he founded the Museum of Surrealism at the Chateau de Vaux-le-Penil in Melun, France.
Also read: How to start building an art collection Of all of these artists, Pierre’s association with Dali was deepest. They met in France when, in the late 1950s, he commissioned the artist to work on a copper engraving for their first illustrated art book, titled Rois Mages or King Magi, with other surrealists such as Hans Bellmer, Jean Cocteau and Leonor Fini. Between the late 1950s and the mid-1970s, the two collaborated on a series of limited-edition intaglio prints, which are over 200 in number, and which will be shown at the exhibition.
The resulting works are not just rare but also demonstrate just how skilled Dali was as an artist. For the record, he directly etched on a copper plate with a range of tools, including stylus, scissors, roulettes and lipsticks. Not just a professional relationship was forged between the patron and the painter but also a profound bond of friendship till the artist’s death in 1989.
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