Salvador Dalí’s largest ever painting, a monumental 13-panel stage set created for the ballet "Bacchanale," is set to lead Bonhams’s fourth annual Surrealist sale in Paris on March 26. Measuring 65 by 100 feet, the work was originally commissioned for the Ballet Russes de Monte Carlo and features Dalí's signature paranoiac-critical imagery, including a central depiction of Mount Venus. The set, which premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1939, is estimated to fetch between $236,000 and $350,000.
This auction highlight underscores the growing market interest in the multidisciplinary outputs of Surrealist masters, particularly their contributions to performance and scenography. By bringing a work of such immense scale and historical collaboration—involving figures like Coco Chanel and Léonide Massine—to the block, Bonhams is tapping into the high demand for rare, museum-quality artifacts that bridge the gap between fine art and theater history.