Catalogs and Experts - Says Who? | « Back to Authenticity Main Page

How does this all work out in the real world? Well, let's say you think you have an original Salvador Dalí painting. You want to sell it. You take it to Sotheby's and ask them to auction it for you. Their reputation depends on selling only genuine items. They will verify its authenticity before offering it for sale. In the case of a Dalí original, this means sending it to Robert and Nicolas Descharnes in Paris. If it was a Picasso, a Warhol, a Pollock, etc. they would send it to the acknowledged and trusted expert for that artist or use in-house experts if they have them on staff.

On one point, Sotheby's and Christie's are in full agreement: the world experts on the original works of Salvador Dalí are Robert and Nicolas Descharnes.

To quote a 3 September 2008 letter from a Senior Vice President at Sotheby's to a well-known Dalí dealer:

"This letter is to confirm that the only internationally-recognized experts who can authenticate the paintings, drawings and sculpture of Salvador Dalí are Robert and Nicolas Descharnes. Sotheby's will only accept expertise certificates from these experts before being able to proceed with the sale of art by that artist."

And from a Director at Christie's came the following on September 23rd, 2008:

"This is to confirm that, for the purposes of authenticating paintings, sculptures and works on paper by Salvador Dalí, Christie's uses Robert and Nicolas Descharnes."

Since these two auction houses are the key commercial entities in the world when it comes to art, one can safely assume that they have done their homework and chosen the only reliable sources in the world for authentication of original Dalí works.

For most famous artists there is a catalogue raisonné – a carefully prepared catalog of all their works - which is consulted. Sometimes there is additional information and expertise available to supplement the catalog.

In the case of Salvador Dalí, two catalogues raisonnés exist for his graphic works, his prints, etchings, engravings and all the work which can be considered a multiple (a piece of art of which a number of copies were created).

One of these catalogs, The Official Catalog of the Graphic Work of Salvador Dalí was prepared by New York educator, collector and scholar, Albert Field, who was officially sanctioned by Salvador Dalí to produce the catalog and who worked very closely with Salvador Dalí, meeting with him often for verification and questions about his research and findings. This was a labor of love carefully compiled over a period of more than 40 years and finally published in 1996.

The other is the Dalí: Catalogue Raisonné of Prints in two volumes, compiled by two Germans, Ralf Michler and Lutz Löpsinger. This was published in 1995.

Both catalogs are useful. For example Chief Detective Ernst Schöller, second in command of the Art Crime Squad of the Baden-Württenberg State Criminal Investigation Department in Stuttgart, Germany, uses both catalogs when establishing the authenticity or otherwise of suspected fakes.

According to a spokesperson at Sotheby's, one of the world's two leading art auction houses, the complete portfolios of Dali prints and the early black and white etchings which they sell, must conform to the Michler/Löpsinger catalogue raisonné.

But the acknowledged experts on Salvador Dalí original works, Robert and Nicolas Descharnes, favor the Albert Field catalog, as Robert Descharnes explains when asked which of the two existing catalogs he prefers (the following quote is translated from the French):

(Extract from videoed interview with Mr. Robert Descharnes in May 2008.)