Salvador Dalí

Helena Rubinstein, New York (commissioned from the artist)

New York, Knoedler & Co., Inc., Salvador Dalí, 1943

Robert Descharnes & Gilles Neret, Salvador Dalí, vol. I, Cologne, 1993, no. 795, illustrated  in color p. 351 (as dating from 1942-43)

Robert Descharnes, Salvador Dalí, The Work, The Man, New York, 1997, illustrated in color p. 281

Dalí (exhibition catalogue), The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, 2005, mentioned p. 501

Very good condition. The canvas has been lined with a glue lining. The paint layer is clean and stable and still well textured. Under ultra-violet light, the only retouches of any note are situated in the water in the lower left, where some dark vertical streaks of pigment, which are original to Dali’s hand but which have darkened noticeably over time, have been retouched. The darkening most likely developed naturally over time and became visually distracting because of the use of a particular medium by the artist. In the remainder of the painting, despite some slight fluctuations of tone visible under ultraviolet light, there are essentially no restorations in the sky and only a group of restorations to the immediate right of the head of Ms. Rubinstein in the dark shadow of her head against the rock. Over all, the painting is in beautiful condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Dalí's riveting depiction of the legendary Helena Rubinstein (1870-1965) is among the artist's most accomplished portraits.  When Dalí painted this work in 1943, Rubinstein was the world's richest woman, having single-handedly established an eponymous multi-million dollar cosmetics company that transformed the industry.  As the world's first self-made female millionaire, Rubinstein was a pioneer among captains of industry, achieving a level of success that was hitherto unimaginable for a woman.  But as a product of her generation, Rubinstein ironically preferred to be addressed by the noble title and surname she inherited from her Georgian husband.  That duality of persona is addressed in Dalí's title for this extraordinary portrait.

Dalí had known Rubinstein since the early 1930s, and she was part of the elite establishment that welcomed the artist when he arrived to New York in 1940 at the outbreak of war in France.   In 1942, she commissioned Dalí to create a group of three major murals to decorate the dining room of her 36-room triplex on Park Avenue. A year later, he painted this portrait, featuring his patron as a small element of a larger environment.  Unlike typical portrait commissions, Rubinstein's face accounts for only a tiny portion of the canvas -- a compositional allusion, perhaps, to her role as the keystone of a colossal industry.

Rubinstein was seventy-three years old in 1943, but Dalí has rendered a more youthful representation of her in this picture that bears a close resemblance to his own wife, Gala.  This choice reinforces the Surrealist idea of a non-literal portrait, which relies on symbolism and atmospheric effects to convey information about the subject.  In this way, Rubenstein's youthfulness represents the immortality of her character as well as the accomplishments of a cosmetics pioneer. The entire scene is reminiscent of Renaissance depictions of the mythical Andromeda, chained to the side of a rock (fig. 1); yet, Dalí provides us with a revised version of that story, depicting a woman of great strength and a formidable opponent to the demons of the modern world.  As was typical of Dalí's best work, there is even an erotic undertone, suggested by the tiny figures of Venus and Cupid on the rocks below.

Princess Arthchild Gourielli-Helena Rubinstein was painted during the period when Dalí was, "claiming to have discovered for the first time in his life the real way to paint; in other words, with over- and underpainting. For him, this is infinitely more subtle in its tonalities than the pictures painted before" (Robert Descharnes, Dalí, l'oeuvre et l'homme, Lausanne, 1984, p. 142). This discovery of the finer techniques of painting gives the present work its striking luminosity and the precision of a Renaissance masterpiece, from the crests of the minute breakers to the flawlessly rendered textures of the sheer rock faces. Clearly, this was the zenith of Dalí's technical virtuosity, when the fruits of his prodigious subconscious could be represented with pristine detail.