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art history

Salvador Dalí’s 7 Most Expensive Paintings at Auction

A source-reported ranking puts Portrait de Paul Éluard first at $17.01 million, but the seven USD figures are not a definitive, fully verified all-time record.

By ThatPainter Team 3 min read
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Portrait de Paul Éluard leads a secondary source’s reported list of Salvador Dalí’s most expensive auctioned paintings, at $17,010,000 for a 2011 Sotheby’s sale. The seven figures below are source-reported USD amounts, not a definitive all-time ranking: the available records do not establish a consistent currency-conversion method or buyer’s-premium treatment, and some results lack primary auction-house confirmation.

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What are Salvador Dalí’s most expensive paintings?

The following descending order and reported amounts come from Art in Context, which lists public auction events and their venues and dates. Sotheby’s records corroborate the sale identity or date for several works, but the accessible material does not independently confirm every final price. Treat each amount as that secondary source’s report, rather than as a fully audited realized price.

#1 Best Overall
Painting Reported amount Reported sale Verification context
Portrait de Paul Éluard (1929) $17,010,000 Sotheby’s, London, 10 February 2011 Sotheby’s describes an oil on board, signed and dated 1929; the amount is reported by Art in Context.
Printemps nécrophilique (1936) $12,726,000 Sotheby’s, New York, 2 May 2012 Sotheby’s identifies an oil on canvas and records provenance and exhibition history; the amount is reported by Art in Context.
Couple With Their Heads Full Of Clouds (1936) $10,332,000 Bonhams, London, 15 October 2020 Title, amount and sale details are reported by Art in Context; a primary Bonhams realized-price record was not established.
The Angelus (also titled L’Àngelus) $10,080,000 Sotheby’s, New York, 16 November 2021 Sotheby’s identifies the lot as an oil on panel, circa 1934–35. Its press release reports $10.7 million, differing from the amount in Art in Context.
Moment Of Transition (1934) $6,804,000 Christie’s, New York, 6 May 2014 Amount and sale details are reported by Art in Context.
Spectre du soir sur la plage (1935) $6,552,000 Sotheby’s, New York, 14 November 2017 Sotheby’s artist records list the lot and date; the amount is reported by Art in Context.
La Musique $6,300,000 Sotheby’s, New York, 19 June 2013 Sotheby’s groups the title with variants “L’ORCHESTRE ROUGE” and “LES SEPT ARTS”; the amount is reported by Art in Context.

The list gives USD equivalents, but the accessible source does not explain the exchange-rate date or whether all amounts include buyer’s premium. That makes precise comparisons between entries uncertain. In particular, the discrepancy for The Angelus should not be silently resolved in favor of either figure without a final lot record. These results also cover public auctions, not private transactions or what a work might sell for today.

How much did a Dalí painting sell for more recently?

Christie’s reports that Les trois grâces realized $1,008,000 at its New York sale on 13 May 2025. It is a later public-market data point, but it does not by itself establish a revised top seven. Christie’s also reported that Eléphant du triomphe sold for RMB 13,200,000 in Shanghai in 2017, calling it the highest price for a Western work sold at that venue. That venue-specific claim uses a different currency and should not be directly compared with the seven USD equivalents.

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Does the auction ranking measure Dalí’s most important paintings?

No. Auction prices record particular sales; they are not a measure of artistic importance. Christie’s describes Dalí (1904–1989) as a Catalan artist and leading Surrealist, fully associated with the movement from 1929, known for dream-like imagery and startling juxtapositions. The range of paintings in the reported list—from a portrait to surreal compositions—sits within that broader practice, but the amounts alone do not rank their cultural significance.

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Christie’s calls The Persistence of Memory (1931) Dalí’s most iconic work. It is absent from this auction list because the reported ranking is built from works offered at public auction; a celebrated painting held by a museum cannot be ranked by an auction result when it has not been offered for sale.

Quick Recap

SaleBestseller No. 1
Dalí. The Paintings (Bibliotheca Universalis)
Dalí. The Paintings (Bibliotheca Universalis)
Used Book in Good Condition
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Bestseller No. 2
SaleBestseller No. 3

How to read the reported prices

  • They are historical sale reports: each amount is tied to a named auction venue and date in the secondary list, not a current valuation.
  • They are not a complete global record: private sales are outside the demonstrated scope, and the list has not been reconstructed from every auction house’s final results.
  • Verification varies by entry: Sotheby’s records support sale details and catalogue information for several lots, but do not expose all final amounts in the material available here; some entries rely on the secondary list for both figure and sale particulars.
  • Currency and premium matter: without a confirmed conversion basis and buyer’s-premium convention, the displayed USD values should be attributed to the source rather than presented as independently verified exact prices.

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