Première apparition du spectre du père d'Hamlet (Acte I, scène 1)

Throughout his career, Dalí executed illustrations for many editions of classical literature, including Don Quixotte, The Divine Comedy and Macbeth. Salvador Dalí's Hamlet, however, commissioned from the artist by the family of the present owner in the 1960s, remained unpublished until 2014. Thus this group of works offers new and exceptional insight into Dalí's original and unique relationship with classical and literary tradition, and his constant search for an avant-garde re-interpretation of myths and iconographies.
Extremely varied in its graphic style and entrancing with its dramatic imagery, Dalí’s series of illustrations for Hamlet shows the artist’s interpretation of central figures and events in a complex and evolving narrative.
Alice and Wonderland, Odyssey, and The Old Man and The Sea are among some of the works of literature Dalí created images for, and he also paid homage to Shakespeare in several other suites, but his series of illustrations for Hamlet is considered to be one of the most impressive.
The three lots presented in this sale represent only part of the series of ten gouaches and watercolours, executed in 1967 by Dalí as illustrations for the portfolio of etchings which he completed a few years later. The works were commissioned in 1967 by an important European collector directly from the artist, and have since remained in the same private hands.