The Catalogs Raisonnés of Salvador Dalí

Salvador Dalí Obra gráfica comprar obra gráfica

The catalogue raisonné aims to definitively determine which works belong to an artist's pictorial and sculptural production. The catalogue raisonné is an exhaustive list of all known paintings, drawings, sculptures, engravings, lithographs, and generally any graphic work by an artist during their career. They are usually short-run editions aimed at professionals, collectors, and art investors, with the vast majority being sold out in the market, making finding a new copy quite complicated, if not impossible. Second-hand copies that can be found in specialized bookstores are not exactly cheap, but their purchase is a secure investment due to the increasing value of these editions.

Below we offer a list of the most relevant Catalogues Raisonnés of Salvador Dalí's graphic work:

The Official Catalog of the Graphic Works of Salvador Dali, Albert Field, Editorial S. Dalí Archives, 1996

The reference catalogue for Dalí's graphic work in Anglo-Saxon countries is the so-called Albert Field Catalogue. Authorized by Dalí, Field dedicated more than forty years to compiling and maintaining Dalí's official archives in New York. Written in English, the catalogue is organized by type of graphic work and by year, including color photographs of the works along with a description of each edition, publisher, printer, measurements, type of paper, and total print run. You can find this catalogue on Amazon starting from $499.

Dali: Catalogue Raisonne of Etchings and Mixed-Media Prints, 1924-1980, and Dali : Catalogue Raisonne of Prints II Lithographs Editorial Prestel, Michler and Loepsinger.

The Prestel Catalogue of Dalí's graphic work is the main reference for Europe. Comprising two volumes written in English, it is organized by type of graphic work and by year. It lacks a title index, which would be very useful for locating works. It includes black and white photographs along with a description of each edition, publisher, printer, measurements, type of paper, and total print run. They are sold on Amazon starting from $600 and $400 respectively. 

Catalogue of the Graphic Art of Dalí, 1988, Habarta and Moore

The first of the catalogues and the most incomplete. Bilingual in German and English, it only includes black and white photographs and the titles of the works, along with a small note at the end of the book stating the year of the edition, the publisher, and the printer. In some cases, it includes measurements but does not include the print run size. At the time of writing this article, we found a single copy on Amazon for $500.

Salvador Dalí's Catalogues Raisonnés aim to definitively determine which works belong to Dalí's graphic production. This is all the more important as Dalí was a very prolific artist who worked at different paces and with different materials and techniques over time. Catalogues Raisonnés thus allow for the identification of which lithographs and engravings belong to the artist and are essential tools for any collector and art investor.

Miguel Ángel Currás