Dali's Good Idea of a Joke

Kate Murphy of the New York Times lifts our spirits with a quirky story from Houston. In small thrift store in a rather questionable part of town, lie, in a glass case, surrounded by used 1980s fashion and Jesus paraphenalia, six lithographs that appear to be by the artist Salvador Dali (the signature may or may not be fake). The provenance is debated and the authenticity questionable, although there is some seemingly convincing evidence that these thrift store Dalis might be real.

According to the Salvation Army, the works were donated last year by a woman who is a longtime supporter of that charity’s Adult Rehabilitation Center for substance abusers in Houston… “I sold them to a dealer in Texas,” he said, declining to identify the person. That dealer, he added, subsequently sold the works to the woman who donated them to the Salvation Army, whom Mr. Hochman described as the wealthy widow of an oil magnate 

The price of these pieces has escalated to $8,000 each, and they all have legitimate documentation from the previous owners of the pieces. Start scouring your local thrift stores, who knows what you’ll find!

Click to reach the NYTimes article: So Surreal: Thrift Shop Art May Be by Dalí