Thieves steal two Dalí drawings from a Barcelona apartment

Last Sunday, on the 33rd anniversary of the death of the painter Salvador Dalí, on January 23, 1989, the surrealist painter was once again in the news after the theft of two of his works, some drawings made with charcoal on paper in 1922, to illustrate a book.

The Mossos d'Esquadra are investigating the theft of these two works entitled

and

that Salvador Dalí made when he was 18 years old and that a family from the Barcelona district of Sarrià-Sant Gervasi had hung in their home. According to sources close to the case, they would be valued at 300,000 euros each. According to the regional police, on Sunday afternoon its owners reported a robbery with force on their property and the theft of these two works after finding the door of their house forced.

The historical heritage unit of the Mossos d'Esquadra has taken charge of the case and has opened an investigation to confirm whether they are two works by Dalí and to identify and arrest the perpetrators of the theft. From the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation they have confirmed to this newspaper that the drawings are by the painter and that they have proof of them since 2004 when they participated for the first time in an exhibition, specifically in the exhibition

that could be seen in 2004 , during the Dalí Year celebration, at the L'Empordà Museum.

The family that owns the drawings are the heirs of the politician and lawyer Pere Corominas, born in Barcelona in 1870, but from an Empordà family and who died in Buenos Aires in 1936, who commissioned the painter to illustrate one of the chapters of his books; a deluxe edition of

. The Coromines family, it seems, has since kept these four original drawings that had not been exhibited until 2004, of which the thieves have taken two.

In a letter sent by Dalí to Coromines dated September 9, 1922, he tells him the four themes selected for the drawings:

. And he asks him to tell him “the shape and size in which he should make the drawings”. A few days later, already from Madrid, he writes to her again: “You can't imagine with what love and with what enthusiasm I am drawing the 'ninots' for the illustration of your book”.

Coromines, like other friends of his father (among them the pharmacist Joaquim Cusí), were among the first to buy and commission the young painter's work. The relationship between Dalí Sr. and Coromines, classmates at the Barcelona Law School, grew when the notary Dalí testified in favor of his friend in the trial in which he was accused of instigating an anarchist attack carried out in Barcelona on the day of the Corpus of 1896 that ended the lives of six people and 44 wounded. In the end Coromines was sentenced to eight years in prison. Although he was later amnestied in 1901.

But the painter Dalí and Coromines met again.

It was in March 1930 when the young man gave a lecture at the Ateneo de Barcelona talking about his embrace of surrealism.

After the scandal caused among the attendees after hearing how he described the former president of the entity, Àngel Guimerá, as "immense hairy rotten" and "great pig" forced the resignation of the president of that moment who was none other than Coromines.

For now, the Mossos researchers have not contacted the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation, but the entity has assured that they are at their disposal to collaborate with them.