The lithographs issued under Robert Descharnes starting in 1986 are highly authorized legally, but they occupy a very complex and sometimes controversial space in the art market. The last great Dali’s.
The 1986–1989 Descharnes / DEMART Pro Arte lithographs are a specific class of high-fidelity fine art prints published by DEMART Pro Arte B.V., the company founded by Salvador Dalí’s longtime secretary, photographer, and estate guardian, Robert Descharnes.
Because they were produced during the final three years of Dalí’s life when his health was in severe decline, they have a very distinct legal and structural profile:
1. Their Purpose: Eradicating Forgeries
By the mid-1980s, the global market was flooded with hundreds of thousands of fake Dalí prints. In 1986, Dalí assigned his global intellectual property and copyright administration exclusively to Descharnes’s company, DEMART. The prints produced between 1986 and 1989 were explicitly created to re-establish control over Dalí’s imagery, generating legitimate corporate revenue while providing collectors with estate-sanctioned alternatives to the rampant market forgeries.
2. Technical Nature: “Interpretive Lifetime Prints”
Like the 1983 Dalian Horses, these are interpretive lithographs printed by master chromists in European workshops. They were based on historical, pre-existing master paintings or gouaches created by Dalí during his prime (the 1930s through the 1970s). Dalí was too ill to manually draw on the lithographic stones during this period, but he contractually signed off on the image selections.
To understand where they stand compared to the 1983 Dalian Horses, discussed in detail in a previous article, it helps to look at the legal shift that happened in 1986:
1. The Legal Authorization (DEMART)
Robert Descharnes was Dalí’s longtime friend, photographer, and final secretary. In 1986, as Dalí’s health grew increasingly fragile, Descharnes successfully persuaded Dalí to transfer the exclusive intellectual property and copyright administration of his works to a company managed by Descharnes called DEMART Pro Arte.
• Because of this 1986 contract, any lithograph or reproduction published by DEMART after 1986 has the absolute highest tier of legal and estate authorization. They are not counterfeits; on the contrary. The are almost bulletproof.
2. Market Perception: Lifetime vs. Posthumous
Even though the 1986-and-after prints are legally bulletproof, art collectors and appraisers categorize them differently depending on the exact date of production:
• 1986 to January 1989 (Late Lifetime): Prints published by DEMART during these final three years of Dalí’s life are considered authorized interpretive lifetime editions (similar to the 1983 horses). Dalí was alive, and his legally appointed entity was running the publication.
• Post-1989 (Posthumous): Dalí passed away in January 1989. Any lithographs or graphics printed by DEMART after 1989 are strictly posthumous estate editions. While perfectly legal and authorized, they do not command the same market value as prints produced while Dalí was still alive.
3. How to Identify a Descharnes / DEMART Edition
Unlike the 1983 horses (which featured the SPADEM mark), prints authorized by Descharnes from 1986 onward typically feature a different set of visual anchors in the margins: [1]
• The Copyright Stamp: Look for a printed or embossed mark reading “© DEMART PRO ARTE” or “© DEMART” accompanied by the year of publication (e.g., 1986, 1988, 1990).
• No Pencil Signatures: Just like the 1983 suite, Dalí was completely incapable of hand-signing artwork by this time. Genuine Descharnes/DEMART lithographs will only have a printed plate signature. If a post-1986 DEMART print features a graphite pencil signature, it is a forgery.
Summary: 1983 DalianHorses vs. Post-1986 Descharnes
A DEMART print is a fully recognized, estate-sanctioned piece of fine art reproduction and is actually the closest to artist himself. Works of beauty by Descharnes. Who saved Dali’s legacy. Some say the 1983 Dalian Horses remain slightly more desirable to traditional collectors because they were printed entirely before the chaotic final years of Dalí’s estate battles. But that has a lot to do with timing, not quality. However, the battle rages on as to whether these prints are miles ahead of the controversial Gilbert Hamon Master Suite prints.
What about the Market Standing and the “Albert Field” Standard
In The Official Catalog of the Graphic Works of Salvador Dali by Albert Field, these prints are fully acknowledged as legally authorized lifetime editions. They hold an excellent tier of legal documentation because Robert Descharnes was Dalí’s officially designated right-hand expert. They are worth seeking out because some of the best Dali classic lithographs can only be gotten from the Descharnes lithograph collection. They are very desirable and are categorized by collectors as a corporate estate product rather than “original graphics” personally pulled by the artist. They command solid decorative fine-art value, but do not reach the premium prices of Dalí’s hand-signed etchings from his “Golden Age” in the 1960s and 1970s.
The 1986–1989 DEMART Pro Arte portfolio consists primarily of Salvador Dalí’s most famous, iconic surrealist masterpieces transformed into authorized mixed-media lithographs.
Rather than commissioning new artwork, Salvador Dali and Robert Descharnes pulled images directly from Dalí’s peak artistic periods (the 1930s through the 1950s) to create the definitive “Masterpieces Collection” series. Every single one of these prints will feature the uniform “© DEMART PRO ARTE” block stamp somewhere in the white margin alongside a printed plate signature.
The core, most documented titles featured in the 1986–1989 DEMART portfolio include:
The Definitive Core Titles
• The Persistence of Memory (The famous melting clocks from 1931)
• The Temptation of St. Anthony (The long-legged elephants from 1946)
• The Elephants (1948)
• The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory (1952–1954)
• Swans Reflecting Elephants (1937)
• Galatea of the Spheres (1952 portrait of Gala)
• Geopoliticus Child Watching the Birth of the New Man (1943)
• Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening (1944)
• Metamorphosis of Narcissus (1937)
• The Meditative Rose (1958)
• Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubus) (1954)
• Young Virgin Auto-Sodomized by the Horns of Her Own Chastity (1954)
There were also…Specialized DEMART Editions (1986–1988)
In addition to the main fine art paper lithographs, DEMART also utilized this specific 1986–1989 legal window to publish high-end authorized object-art variations based on these exact titles:
• The Luxury Tapestries: A select group of images was released as large, limited-edition woven wall tapestries, most notably Battle Around A Dandelion (1988).
• The Multiples/Bronzes: Small scale metalworks issued directly via the V.M. Valsuani Foundry bearing the DEMART stamp, such as the Venus de Milo with Drawers (1986)
What about after 1989….Any Salvador Dalí print containing a copyright dates of 1990 – 1996* or later in the lower margin is considered a posthumous estate edition.
Because Dalí passed away on January 23, 1989, Robert Descharnes and the DEMART Pro Arte entity transitioned from managing a living artist’s print publication to administering an official estate. Under this arrangement, several specific titles were published or distributed heavily as posthumous lithographs, photo-lithographs, or sculpture editions into the 1990s.
1. The Posthumous “World Masterpieces” Run (1990–1996)
DEMART continued converting Dalí’s most recognizable, museum-held surrealist oil paintings into high-quality decorative lithographic plates. If you see these specific titles with a “© DEMART” stamp dated 1990, 1992, or 1995, they are strictly posthumous:
• Christ of Saint John of the Cross (The floating crucifixion over a boat)
• The Madonna of Port Lligat (1950 masterwork)
• Soft Construction with Boiled Beans (Premonition of Civil War)
• The Great Masturbator
• Burning Giraffe
• Coup d’œil (The iconic eye containing a landscape
2. The Multiples & Bas-Reliefs
Beyond flat paper lithographs, Descharnes utilized the post-1989 DEMART platform to strike sculptural editions based on Dalí’s classic themes. These include bas-reliefs and bronzes stamped by the estate in the early 1990s:
• The Space Elephant (Sculpture with the long spindle legs)
• Profile of Time (The melting clock draped over a tree branch)
• Alice in Wonderland
*Note – Robert Descharnes officially won his landmark appeal against the Spanish State on February 22, 1996, when the Administrative Tribunal of Spain ruled in his favor. When Salvador Dalí died, he left his massive fortune to the Spanish State, but the government immediately tried to cancel a pre-existing contract Dalí had signed giving his closest confidant, Robert Descharnes, the rights to license his art. Descharnes fought back in a historic legal appeal, arguing that even a government cannot override a dead man’s binding business contracts. The high court agreed, granting Descharnes total victory and global control over the multi-million dollar Dalí brand. Descharnes remained in control until 2004. Lawsuits continued for 10 years after.