The highest price in a published list of seven Salvador Dalí auction results is $17,010,000 for Portrait de Paul Éluard, reportedly sold at Sotheby’s in London in 2011. The figures below come from Art in Context, a secondary source—not a definitive, independently verified all-time ranking. They describe reported public-auction results, not private transactions or what a painting would sell for today.
What are Salvador Dalí’s most expensive paintings?
Art in Context lists the following seven works in descending order of reported price. The amounts are its reported USD figures; the accessible material does not establish the exchange-rate date or whether every figure includes the buyer’s premium. Sale details and amounts should therefore be read as source-reported, not as a fully audited comparison. Art in Context’s list is the basis for the ranking.
| Painting | Reported price | Reported sale | Work details and verification |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portrait de Paul Éluard (1929) | $17,010,000 | Sotheby’s, London, 10 February 2011 | Sotheby’s describes an oil on board, signed and dated 1929. The amount is reported by Art in Context. Sotheby’s lot record. |
| Printemps nécrophilique (1936) | $12,726,000 | Sotheby’s, New York, 2 May 2012 | Sotheby’s identifies an oil on canvas and provides provenance and exhibition history. The amount is reported by Art in Context. Sotheby’s lot record. |
| Couple With Their Heads Full Of Clouds (1936) | $10,332,000 | Bonhams, London, 15 October 2020 | Title, amount and sale details are reported by Art in Context; a primary realized-price page was not established. |
| The Angelus (Sotheby’s title: L’Àngelus) | $10,080,000 | Sotheby’s, New York, 16 November 2021 | Sotheby’s describes an oil on panel, executed circa 1934–35. The amount is disputed: a Sotheby’s press release reports $10.7 million, so the exact result is not settled by the available records. Sotheby’s press release. |
| Moment Of Transition (1934) | $6,804,000 | Christie’s, New York, 6 May 2014 | Amount and sale details are reported by Art in Context; a primary realized-price record was not established. |
| Spectre du soir sur la plage (1935) | $6,552,000 | Sotheby’s, New York, 14 November 2017 | Sotheby’s artist records list the work and sale date; the amount is reported by Art in Context. Sotheby’s artist page. |
| La Musique | $6,300,000 | Sotheby’s, New York, 19 June 2013 | Sotheby’s lists the auction title in a variant grouping: “LA MUSIQUE or L’ORCHESTRE ROUGE or LES SEPT ARTS.” The amount is reported by Art in Context. Sotheby’s artist page. |
How reliable is this ranking?
It is best understood as a useful snapshot of reported public sales, not a definitive record of every Dalí painting’s highest price. Sotheby’s records corroborate the identity or sale details of several entries, but the accessible records do not independently confirm all the amounts. The Bonhams and Christie’s entries also lack confirmed primary realized-price pages here.
- Currency and premium: Art in Context displays GBP and USD amounts, but does not explain the conversion date or consistently establish whether buyer’s premium is included. The USD figures should not be treated as directly comparable final prices without that information.
- Scope: The list concerns public auction results; it does not establish prices for private sales.
- One unresolved entry: The Art in Context figure for The Angelus is $10,080,000, while a Sotheby’s press release says $10.7 million. Without a definitive final result record reconciling the difference, neither amount should be presented as an uncontested exact result.
Does a famous Dalí painting have to appear on the list?
No. Auction-price lists track works that have been offered publicly, not artistic importance or the value of every painting. Christie’s calls The Persistence of Memory (1931) Dalí’s most iconic work, but it does not appear in this reported auction list. A painting that has not been offered for public sale cannot be ranked by public auction result.
#1 Best Overall
Dalí (1904–1989) was a Catalan artist and a leading Surrealist. Christie’s says he became fully associated with the movement in 1929, and describes his visual language in terms of dream-like imagery and startling juxtapositions. Those qualities help explain the distinct subjects represented in the sale list, but they do not make auction price a measure of artistic significance. Christie’s artist profile.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.More recent Dalí auction results
The seven entries do not capture every later sale. Christie’s reports that Les trois grâces realized $1,008,000 in New York on 13 May 2025. That is a later public-market datapoint, but it does not by itself establish a revised top-seven ranking. Christie’s lot record.
Rank #2
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For a separate regional data point, Christie’s reported that Eléphant du triomphe sold for RMB 13,200,000 in Shanghai in 2017 and described it as the highest price for a Western work sold at that Shanghai venue. That venue-specific claim is in a different currency and is not directly comparable to the USD figures above. Christie’s Shanghai press release.
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