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Rare Salvador Dali lithograph collection to go under the hammer

Benjamin Russell
News imageCrombie's Auctioneers Three-panel surrealist artwork featuring elongated, skeletal human-like figures and abstract forms against pale landscapes. The central panel depicts a large spiral shape, while the right panel features a colourful, winding ribbon-like form overlaid with numbers and sketch-like figures. All three prints are signed.Crombie's Auctioneers
The artworks are expected to fetch as much as £120,000 at auction

A private art collection which includes more than 30 hand-signed Salvador Dali lithographs is to go up for auction.

The images are being prepared for public display in Glasgow before going under the hammer on 24 November, when they are expected to fetch as much as £120,000.

Eric Crombie, from Crombie's Auctioneers, said the owner of the collection had got in touch as he is moving abroad and cannot take the lithographs with him.

He said: "Finding a single authenticated, hand-signed Dali is rare, but uncovering an entire private collection of this scale is a major event for the art world."

News imageCrombie's Auctioneers Three-panel surrealist artwork featuring elongated, skeletal human-like figures and abstract forms against pale landscapes. The left panel depicts distorted figures and crutches on a beach near yellow cliffs, while the central panel features a large, inverted triangle and faint sketches of figures above a distant horizon. The right panel features wavy, ghost-like white forms with colourful butterflies on their "heads" against a vibrant yellow and orange landscape. All three prints are signed.Crombie's Auctioneers
The signed lithographs were discovered in a private collection

Speaking to BBC Radio Scotland's Lunchtime Live, Crombie said they were "delighted" to have the collection.

"It's massive for us as a small auction house", he added.

The lithographs are prints that are signed by the Spanish artist, who was a leading figure in the surrealist movement.

"To kind of put it in perspective there's never been a private collection of this size certainly in recent times to come up for auction," he said.

He said one of the highlights of the collections was the Conquest of the Cosmos - a set of six pieces exploring themes of space, science and the universe - that are still in the original box from 1974.

"Normally they've been broke up throughout the year so to find a complete set in the original box is kind of unheard of really."

He said they were still going through the collection, which also contained works from another Spanish artist.

"There's that much of it... we are still uncovering it because a lot of it was prepared to be stored, so we are just uncovering it now, but we reckon that between the collection is going to be possibly between £80,000 and £120,000."

Crombie added that the auction catalogue would be available to view online from Thursday, while the artworks would be available to view in person from 21 November until the auction.

The actual sale itself will be available to view in person up until the auction at 18:00 on 24 November.