Artist Spotlight: Salvador Dalí

  • Artist Spotlight
  • Modern Art

This June at Clars Auctions we are thrilled to present a sale that is bursting with exceptional artwork from iconic creators. One of the most exciting pieces in this month’s Important Summer Fine Art Sale is a never-before-sold oil on canvas painting by world-renowned Spanish Surrealist, Salvador Dalí.


Over the course of the early to mid-twentieth century, Dalí established himself as perhaps the most celebrated of the Surrealist painters, famous for both his instantly recognizable visual style and for his eccentric personality and antics. The painting in this month’s sale, titled Portrait of Mrs. Luther Greene, is an oil on canvas that was commissioned by the sitter’s husband in New York City in 1942 — the year of the artist’s first retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art.


Salvador Dalí (Spanish, 1904–1989), Portrait of Mrs. Luther Greene, 1942, oil on canvas, signed and dated right center, 24″ x 20″ (61 x 50.8 cm). Accompanied by preliminary study sketches of Mrs. Greene by Dalí from 1942 (charcoal/ink on paper). Provenance: Private collection (by descent); Mrs. Luther Greene (Ellen Chamberlain), New York. Catalog reference: Fundació Gala - Salvador Dalí: Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings by Salvador Dalí (cat. no. P 565). © Fundació Gala - Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí (Spanish, 1904–1989), Portrait of Mrs. Luther Greene, 1942, oil on canvas, signed and dated right center, 24″ x 20″ (61 cm x 50.8 cm). Accompanied by preliminary study sketches of Mrs. Greene by Dalí from 1942 (charcoal/ink on paper). Provenance: Private collection (by descent); Mrs. Luther Greene (Ellen Chamberlain), New York. Catalog reference: Fundació Gala – Salvador Dalí: Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings by Salvador Dalí (cat. no. P 565). © Fundació Gala – Salvador Dalí
Estimate: $700,000–$1,000,000

The portrait depicts the patron seated in the foreground, wrapped in a red robe. Behind her is a classic, Dalíesque desert landscape with two figures standing in the distance. An amorphous hill on the far right is dotted with buildings — resembling a forgotten ghost town — and a small boat sits beached by the shore on the far left. This exemplary piece is accompanied by the preliminary sketches done by the artist in preparation for the painting.

In addition to the aforementioned work, we are also pleased to offer abstract sculptures by Claire Falkenstein, a life-size bronze gown by Karen LaMonte, a suite of six bullfighting paintings by LeRoy Neiman, an abstract expressionist oil by Tancredi Parmeggiani, and much more in our Important Summer Fine Art Sale on June 20th.

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Modern & Contemporary Artists' Spotlight

Two of our modern and contemporary highlights this November come from American artists, Jim Dine and Brian Alfred, who draw inspiration from their surroundings in very different ways.

  • Artist Spotlight
  • Modern + Contemporary

Baroque Period Artists' Spotlight

This November at Clars we are highlighting artwork by two artists active during the Baroque period, Rembrandt Van Rijn and Jacob Ignatius Roore.

  • Artist Spotlight
  • Fine Art

Artist Spotlight: William Merritt Chase

This September at Clars we are thrilled to offer a rare and captivating work by William Merritt Chase — whose interiors are widely celebrated as some of the finest achievements of American Impressionism.

  • Artist Spotlight
  • Fine Art

Artist Spotlight: Roy Lichtenstein

Lichtenstein was one of the most prominent figures of the Pop Art movement — most known for his comic strip-inspired paintings, prints, and sculptures.

  • Artist Spotlight
  • Modern + Contemporary

Artist Spotlight: Aaron Douglas

Douglas is widely known for the murals he was commissioned to paint in several high-profile locations, including several Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

  • Artist Spotlight
  • Modern Art

Artist Spotlight: Albert Hirschfeld

Albert Hirschfeld — a master caricaturist — is known for his depictions of twentieth-century pop culture icons.

  • Artist Spotlight
  • Fine Art

Artist Spotlight: Aaron Douglas

  • Artist Spotlight
  • Modern Art

A striking highlight in our Important Summer Fine Art Sale is an oil on canvas painting by key Harlem Renaissance figure, Aaron Douglas. Douglas is widely known for the murals he was commissioned to paint in several high-profile locations.


These locations included several Historically Black Colleges and Universities, the Harlem YMCA, and one of his most acclaimed works, Aspects of Negro Life, at the New York Public Library in Harlem. Douglas worked with writers Alain Locke and W.E.B. Du Bois, and had illustrations included in publications like Vanity Fair, the NAACP journal The Crisis, and Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life among others. Douglas developed a distinctive, graphic style that combined the aesthetic exploration of modernism with more traditional African subject matter. He often used bold color and evocative light sources with leafy foliage and human figures in silhouette. These figures are at times depicted in an African village or tribal setting, dancing, holding spears, or traversing a jungle-like landscape.


Aaron Douglas (American, 1899–1979), Untitled, circa 1955, oil on canvas, signed lower left, 22″ x 44″.
Aaron Douglas (American, 1899–1979), Untitled, circa 1955, oil on canvas, signed lower left, 22″ x 44″.
Estimate: $10,000–$20,000

In other instances, figures are shown in American cityscapes, holding industrial tools with skyscrapers looming in the distance, or playing brass instruments in bands. The work in our June sale shows three silhouetted human figures holding spears and chasing five bison-like animals through an abstracted environment that uses the interplay between color and light to mimic an earthly landscape while remaining nonobjective. Douglas’s approach marries the celebratory aspects of Harlem Renaissance figuration with an Orphism-inspired understanding of color theory that creates a composition in which movement and light become as intrinsic to the material as paint and canvas.

In addition to the aforementioned work, we are also pleased to offer abstract sculptures by Claire Falkenstein, a life-size bronze gown by Karen LaMonte, a suite of six bullfighting paintings by LeRoy Neiman, an abstract expressionist oil by Tancredi Parmeggiani, and much more in our Important Summer Fine Art Sale on June 20th.

Read More

Modern & Contemporary Artists' Spotlight

Two of our modern and contemporary highlights this November come from American artists, Jim Dine and Brian Alfred, who draw inspiration from their surroundings in very different ways.

  • Artist Spotlight
  • Modern + Contemporary

Baroque Period Artists' Spotlight

This November at Clars we are highlighting artwork by two artists active during the Baroque period, Rembrandt Van Rijn and Jacob Ignatius Roore.

  • Artist Spotlight
  • Fine Art

Artist Spotlight: William Merritt Chase

This September at Clars we are thrilled to offer a rare and captivating work by William Merritt Chase — whose interiors are widely celebrated as some of the finest achievements of American Impressionism.

  • Artist Spotlight
  • Fine Art

Artist Spotlight: Salvador Dalí

Dalí established himself as perhaps the most celebrated of the Surrealist painters, famous for both his instantly recognizable visual style and for his eccentric personality and antics.

  • Artist Spotlight
  • Modern Art

Artist Spotlight: Roy Lichtenstein

Lichtenstein was one of the most prominent figures of the Pop Art movement — most known for his comic strip-inspired paintings, prints, and sculptures.

  • Artist Spotlight
  • Modern + Contemporary

Artist Spotlight: Albert Hirschfeld

Albert Hirschfeld — a master caricaturist — is known for his depictions of twentieth-century pop culture icons.

  • Artist Spotlight
  • Fine Art