Spanish Royal Mint Issues Commemorative Salvador Dali Silver Coin Set

The Spanish Royal Mint have issued their second tribute series of precious metal collector coins dedicated to renowned Spanish surrealist artist Salvador Dali. The first set, issued in 2004, commemorated the 100th anniversary of the popular artist's birth, while this second series marks the 20th anniversary of his passing.


Spain 2009 10€ Salvador Dali Automatic Beginning Of A Portrait Of Gala Silver Proof

The mint has issued five precious metal Dali commemoratives, four silver coins and one gold. Of those ECI is offering the three 10 euro silver issues to our customers.


Spain 2009 10€ Salvador Dali Bust Of A Retrospective Woman Silver Proof

The following is taken from the Spanish Royal Mint website:

Salvador Dalí was born on May 11, 1904. He began to draw and paint in earnest at a very young age and in 1922 he took up the study of Fine Arts in Madrid. During his stay in the Students' Residence he developed great friendships with the poet Federico García Lorca and the film-maker Luis Buñuel, and carried out with them many avant-garde artistic projects.

After studying in Madrid Dalí left for París where he joined the group of surrealist painters and writers. Dating from this period are some of the works that would make him one of the maximum representatives of surrealism, namely "The Great Masturbator", "The Spectre of Sex Appeal", "The Lugubrious Game" and "The Persistence of Memory". In 1929 he met the young Russian woman Helena Diakonova, known by the assumed name of Gala, who remained thereafter his model and companion.

Coinciding with the start of the Second World War, Salvador Dalí and Gala set up residence for a number of years in the United States where Dali's painting style, realist and onirical, enjoyed much success. He penned "The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí" and also worked in film, theatre, opera and the ballet. From the nineteen forties came important works such as "Soft Self-portrait with Grilled Bacon", "The Basket of Bread", "Leda Atomica" and "The Madonna of Portlligat". Having become one of the most famous painters of his day, in 1948 he returned to live in Europe and spent long periods at a time in his house and studio at Portlligat.

During the seventies Salvador Dalí created and inaugurated the Dalí Theater-Museum in Figueres, where a large collection of his work is exhibited ranging from his first steps and his surrealist creations to the works produced in the latter years of his life. After living for many years in Portlligat, upon the death of his wife Gala he moved to El Castillo de Púbol for a few years, then spent the last period of his life in La Torre Galatea, near the Dalí Theater-Museum in Figueres, where he wished to be buried.

In 1983 he created the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation, the institution that manages, safeguards and promotes his artistic and intellectual legacy.

He died on January 23, 1989.

Spain 2009 10€ Salvador Dali Portrait Of Picasso In The 21st Century Silver Proof

This series is composed of five collector coins that re-create some of this painter's most well-known works of art. Such as:

	AUTOMATIC BEGINNING OF A PORTRAIT OF GALA, 1933 A surrealist work painted by Dalí in 1932 in which he shows his desire to experiment with different stages of picture completion.
	PORTRAIT OF PABLO PICASSO IN THE 21st CENTURY, 1947 Picasso always maintained very good relations with Catalonia and from the early days of Dali's career showed interest in his work. So it is not to be surprised that on Dali's first trip to Paris the young artist was quick to visit Picasso. The latter received him in his studio and showed him how his work was developing at that time, an evolution that made a deep impression on Dali. Picasso's new style, fairly similar in those days to that of Breton, must have inclined Dali's way of painting towards surrealism for the first time.
	RETROSPECTIVE BUST OF A WOMAN, 1970 A surrealist bust that Dalí painted in 1930 and put the final touches to in 1970.

The three commemorative silver coins then have a common obverse; a reproduction of Dali's "SELF-PORTRAIT WITH L'HUMANITE, 1923"

Each of the three 10 euro denominated coins offered on ECI has been struck from 27 grams of 92.5% sterling silver on a 40mm (crown-sized) flan to the mint's stringent proof standards, producing a set of beautifully designed reproductions of Dali's work on flawless mirrored surfaces.

Each coin is then elegantly presented in an official Spanish Royal Mint blue jewel case with full-colour outer box, accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity confirming the mintage of just 10,000 coins a piece being issued into the worldwide market.