A charity shop worker discovered a work of art by Salvador Dalí among the shop’s donations and saved it from being thrown away.
VRT reports that Nicolas Bracke found a lithograph of Dalí’s La femme cheval at the Kringwinkel charity shop in Ghent. Bracke also found a lithograph of Roger Raveel’s Father and Son among the shop’s donations.
A lithograph is a form of print which is an authorised copy of an original work. A numbered lithograph from a well-known artist can fetch thousands of euros at auction.
The frame of the lithograph found by Bracke was engraved with Dalí’s name and a lithograph number, which reportedly matches a series of numbers on the artist’s other works.
Bracke told VRT that the artwork was “leaning against a container, ready to be forgotten” when he spotted it. Examining it more closely, he saw Dalí’s name engraved on it and “did a little dance of joy”.
“Many people who come to donate items to us, for example after a death, are completely unaware of exactly what they are giving away,” Bracke said. “For us, it is of course a tremendous gift to suddenly have a Dalí or a Raveel in our possession.”
The lithographs will be auctioned off on 22 January. The charity shop will host the public auction, and according to VRT, it will be transformed into a temporary art gallery for the occasion.
