Chester Dale

1958

Salvador Dalí

Artist, Spanish, 1904 - 1989

Shown from the knees up, an older man sits next to a black, curly-haired poodle on a rough-hewn, stone chair against a vibrant, indigo-blue sky in this vertical portrait painting. The man’s torso is angled slightly to our right but his left leg crosses over his other knee so his legs angle toward us. He looks at us with silvery-blue eyes under gray brows. He has a wide nose, thin, pink lips set in line, and a square jaw. A pale area above his upper lip could be a closely cropped mustache. Wrinkles surround his eyes and line his cheeks and jawline. He wears black trousers and a maroon-red jacket with wide, black lapels and cuffs over an eggshell-white shirt and tie, which is pinned with a silver ball. His right elbow rests on the arm of the chair so his hand rests in his lap. He wears a gold ring on the pinky finger of his other hand, which wraps around the dog’s body. The dog faces and looks at us with gold-rimmed brown eyes, and the dog’s fur is highlighted with icy blue, suggesting a glossy coat. The man and dog sit on what appears to be a sand-brown rock in the general shape of a chair. Behind the man and far below, along the right edge of the canvas, the landscape plummets down to a bright blue body of water, which surrounds a flat-topped, rocky outcropping that comes up to the shoulder level of the man. A cylindrical structure with one window sits next to a line of trees atop the outcropping in the distance. The sky meets the water at the horizon, about a quarter of the way up the canvas, and deepens from arctic white around the outcropping and man to deep cobalt blue around the two gray clouds near the top corners of the painting. A streak of light angles from the cloud to our right down toward the man’s head. The painting is signed and dated at the front of the chair, under the man’s elbow, near the lower left corner: “Pour Chester Dale et Coco Mon Pape Innocent X de Velasquez Salvador Dalí 1958.”
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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Chester Dale Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 88.8 x 58.9 cm (34 15/16 x 23 3/16 in.)
    framed: 111.7 x 81.3 x 6 cm (44 x 32 x 2 3/8 in.)

  • Accession

    1963.10.11


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Acquired 18 April 1958 from the artist through (Carstairs Gallery, New York) by Chester Dale [1883-1962], New York; gift 1963 to the NGA.[1]
[1] The painting remained in the possession of Mr. Dale's widow until her death in 1984, at which time it was transferred to the NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1964

  • American Portraits Between the Fairs 1939-1964, Portraits, Inc., New York, 1964, no. 20.

2010

  • From Impressionism to Modernism: The Chester Dale Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, January 2010-January 2012, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

Bibliography

1973

  • Morse, Albert Reynolds. Salvador Dali. Spanish--(1904- ). A Guide to His Works in Public Museums. Cleveland, 1973: 51, repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 112, repro.

1991

  • Kopper, Philip. America's National Gallery of Art: A Gift to the Nation. New York, 1991: 248, repro.

1998

  • Kuthy, Sandor. Von Matisse bis Dali: Das Legat Georges F. Keller an das Kunstmuseum Bern / De Matisse à Dali: Le Legs Georges F. Keller au Musée des beaux-arts de Berne. Bern, 1998: 48, repro.

Inscriptions

lower left: Pour Chester Dale et Coco / Mon Pape Innocent X de Velasquez / Salvador Dali 1958

Wikidata ID

Q20194998


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