In 1983 Salvador Dali fully authorized the Dalian Horses (also known as Les Chevaux de Dali or Dalinian Horses). Dali never saw the finalized 1983 printed sheets.
It is a landmark 1983 Lithographic Suite by Salvador Dalí. Technically speaking, yes, visually it is a recreation of the 1971 imagery. Why It Is Considered a Distinct Masterwork?
1. Completely Rebuilt from Scratch: A cheap “copy” uses photographic scanning or basic offset printing. For the 1983 project, master printmakers at the Claude Jobin workshop literally re-drew and isolated every single color layer by hand onto individual lithographic stone matrices. Each print went through the press dozens of times—one press run per color—giving them a heavy texture and chromatic depth the 1971 editions lacked.
2. A Change in Medium: The original 1971 artworks were multi-media gouache paintings and complex mixed-media collages. The 1983 suite re-imagined these concepts entirely through the medium of pure, traditional fine-art lithography on pure rag Vélin d’Arches paper.
3. The Legal “Deed” to the Images: In the art world, late-lifetime editions authorized by the artist and heavily regulated by official copyright guilds (like France’s SPADEM) function as the definitive, authentic monument of a series. Dalí was deeply involved in establishing this edition to cement the legacy of these designs before he passed away.
Arguably, this definitive collection stands as one of the final, most ambitious graphic achievements authorized during Salvador Dalí’s lifetime. Revisiting the Dalinian Horses in 1983 was a highly successful artistic and commercial choice because it completely rebuilt the pieces using master-level traditional lithography. Artisans created a completely unique drawing for every single-color layer achieving a depth that regular prints could never match. Plus, it transformed the collection from a silent art portfolio locked away in private elite collections into a landmark multimedia monument that is very visible in the public eye and accessible to collectors and galleries.
Salvador Dalí’s involvement in the 1983 lithographs was conceptual and contractual rather than hands-on, and it is highly documented in official art catalogs. By 1983, it has been said that Dali was in poor health, suffering from tremors caused by Parkinson’s-like symptoms, and essentially living in isolation following the death of his wife, Gala, in 1982. Because of his physical state, he did not personally touch the lithographic stones or watch them being printed at the Claude Jobin workshop in Paris. Dali legally authorized the publishers, Armand and Georges Israël, to convert his 1971 horse paintings into a limited-edition lithograph series. He signed the publishing agreements and validated the project before his health completely failed.
The Originals were done in 1971. Dalí painted 25 vibrant gouache and watercolor pieces. Rather than a single painting, this is a highly celebrated collection of original multimedia graphic works. These originals were later translated into a limited-edition suite of 18 color lithographs with collage elements for the 1983 version. The 1983 prints are accurate lithographic interpretations of those 1971 paintings.
The suite of 18 color lithographs was produced in France and printed at the Claude Jobin workshop in Paris during Salvador Dalí’s lifetime.
These specific prints are considered legitimate for several reasons:
• Official Authorization: The series was created with Dalí’s consent and was strictly supervised and validated by the artist and the SPADEM (Société de la Propriété Artistique et des Dessins et Modèles), the French copyright and collection society for visual artists.
• Publisher Markings: Authentic lithographs from this 1983 edition feature the SPADEM copyright and an embossed dry stamp (blind stamp) from the original publishers, Armand & Georges Israël.
• Plate Signatures: The prints are “signed in the plate” or “signed in the stone,” meaning the signature is printed as part of the image rather than hand-signed in pencil.
**A Warning on the Secondary Market:
While the 1983 edition itself is authorized, the market is heavily saturated with fakes and unauthorized reproductions of Dalí’s graphic works. If you are evaluating a specific piece, you must look for the correct publisher markings (such as the Georges Israël blind stamp) and ideally review a Certificate of Authenticity. The strictly authorized, lifetime edition is the 1983 French suite published by Armand & Georges Israël.
1. The Authorized Edition Layouts
The legal, authorized lifetime printing consisted of 4,980 total copies printed on premium Vélin d’Arches paper at the Claude Jobin workshop in Paris. It was distributed in two official formats:
• The Portfolio/Individual Prints: Prints numbered between 3,001 and 4,980 (1,980 copies) were released as loose, individual lithographs inside an illustrated art folder.
• The Complete Book/Text Set: Prints numbered from 1 to 3,000 were bound into a luxury book/set format that included text describing the images alongside the lithographs.
2. Legal Visual Markers to Identify the Version
The authorized 1983 version must feature three specific physical markers embedded into the margins of the paper:
• Lower Left Corner: An embossed dry/blind stamp reading “Armand & Georges Israël” accompanied by the printed mark “S.P.A.D.E.M.” (the French artists’ copyright protection society).
• Lower Right Corner: The specific title of the horse printed cleanly outside the main image border.
• Signature: Salvador Dalí’s signature is “in the stone” (printed on the plate), located just outside or on the edge of the artwork
The total edition size was 4,980, but the numbering works differently because of how they were packaged:
Where the Number Actually Is and the signature
• The Justification Page: The numbering (e.g., 125 of 4,980) was only printed on a single “Justification de Tirage” page (the certificate/index sheet) included inside the portfolio box or luxury book.
• The Lithographs are Identical: Because the 18 individual lithographs were issued loose inside that portfolio box, the paper sheets only feature the SPADEM mark and the publishers’ dry stamp. They were not individually numbered by hand.
• The Authorized Look: The signature should look exactly like it is part of the artwork’s ink. It will be perfectly flattened into the paper matrix, matching the texture of the lithograph colors.
If a seller presents a lithograph from this specific 1983 run and points to a pencil-written number or an “artist proof” marking directly on the paper to justify a higher price, it is an automatic indicator of a posthumous reproduction or a forgery.
By 1983, Dalí was in extremely poor health, suffering from severe motor tremors caused by Parkinson’s-like symptoms, and living in total isolation following the death of his wife, Gala, in 1982. Because of his physical state, he did not personally touch the lithographic stones or watch them being printed at the Claude Jobin workshop in Paris.
It is interesting to note that the 1983 Dalian Horses series is considered vastly more authorized and legitimate than the Gilbert Hamon Master Series 1980-81 prints.
While both series fall under the technical category of “interpretive lithographs” (prints created by a workshop based on pre-existing paintings rather than drawn directly on the stone by the artist), their legal standing in the art market is completely different:
1. The Legality and Contractual Authorization
• 1983 Dalian Horses: This series was printed with Dalí’s fully documented legal consent. The publishers (Armand & Georges Israël) held a binding contract, and the printing was legally supervised and certified during Dalí’s lifetime by SPADEM, the official French artist copyright authority. [1]
• The Gilbert Hamon Master Series: While Hamon was originally given permission to print works “after” Dalí for a separate book project, he severely violated his agreements. According to official reference catalogs like The Official Catalog of the Graphic Works of Salvador Dali by Albert Field, Hamon went completely rogue. He was never authorized to market the prints as authentic or to use Dalí’s signature
2. The Signature Fraud
• 1983 Dalian Horses: The signatures are strictly “in the stone” (printed) as legally permitted by the contract. There was no attempt to trick the buyer into thinking Dalí hand-signed them in 1983.
• The Gilbert Hamon Master Series: Hamon added fake, handwritten pencil signatures and edition numbers (like “238/300”) to his prints to make them look like traditional, hand-signed limited editions. In later legal and archival investigations, Hamon openly admitted to using unapproved signatures on the sheets without Dalí’s consent or knowledge.
Summary of the Market Value
Because of Hamon’s confessed fraud, some major auction houses and appraisers view the Gilbert Hamon Master Series as unauthorized reproductions or outright counterfeits even though they were authorized by Salvador Dali. By contrast, the 1983 Dalian Horses series is fully accepted in the Albert Field Catalog Raisonné as an official, authorized lifetime interpretive edition. Yet, ironically, these days the Gilbert Hamon Master Series are now seen as more valuable and highly collectable ‘After Dali’s’ with Provenance due to the intense documentation surrounding the scandalous period…
Printed on fine Vélin d’Arches paper in 1983 at the Claude Jobin workshop in Paris, the collection represents horses from literature, global history, and classical mythology:
Here are the titles of the 18 lithographs:
- Caligula
- Bucéphale (Bucephalus)
- Le Centurion
- Chevalier Romain (The Roman Cavalier)
- Pégase (Pegasus)
- La Licorne (The Unicorn)
- Cheval de Troie (Trojan Horse)
- Neptune
- Le Cheval de la Mort (Horse of Death)
- Le Cheval de Labeur (The Horse of Labor)
- Le Cheval de Course (Race Horse)
- Le Cheval du Printemps (Horse of Spring)
- Le Cheval de Triomphe (Horse of Triumph)
- Don Quichotte (Don Quixote)
- Lady Godiva
- Saint-Georges (Saint George)
- Le Chevalier Chrétien (The Christian Knight)
- Le Picador