Is Dalí’s Bacchanale, his largest work ever, for sale?

One of the most imposing and original works ever produced by Salvador Dalí could soon appear on the international market. It is the monumental stage design Bacchanale, conceived, designed, and painted by the artist for the eponymous ballet staged at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York in 1939, which — according to as-yet-unconfirmed reports — might be included in the upcoming Bonhams Paris auction dedicated to Surrealism, scheduled for March 26, 2026.

First arriving in Italy in 2025 thanks to the exhibition "The Big Three of Spain" at the Fabbrica del Vapore in Milan, this great "scenic machine" marked the Catalan artist's first entry into the world of theater as a set, librettist and costume designer, representing a perfect synthesis of his interest in the contamination of visual arts, dance and music, here brought together in what he called a "paranoid-critical" ballet in full surrealist style. 

The project, reworked from Richard Wagner’s Tannhäuser overture, originated from a close collaboration with choreographer and director of the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo, Léonide Massine, around whom prominent figures such as Coco Chanel — who contributed to the development of some costumes and accessories — and the renowned Russian costume designer Barbara Karinska later gathered.

The entire stage design was structured as a complex ensemble composed of thirteen large-scale elements: a main backdrop and four groups of panels conceived as perspective frames, which framed the action in a layered, multidimensional visual language. At the center stood the Mount of Venus, originally overlaid with the image of a wooden swan — a clear reference to the myth of Leda — creating an intricate interplay of symbols associated with sin and metamorphosis. The side panels and friezes were designed to introduce the viewer to a visual universe marked by recurring motifs in Dalí’s work: busts with empty eyes, small skulls, recumbent figures, flowing drapes, gloves, and skeletal limbs — all elements directing the gaze toward a stage shaped by an imaginary world that is at once macabre and sensual, rich in metaphors and symbolic superimpositions.

If its sale were to be confirmed by Bonhams, the appearance of the Bacchanale on the market would represent not only a significant moment for Surrealist collecting, but also an opening to a previously unseen Dalí: a work outside the traditional canons of painting on canvas, scenic and monumental, which would help reconsider the "total" dimension of his artistic vision. 

Opening image: Salvador Dalì (1904-1989), Décor de théâtre pour Bacchanale