Focus on A Chemist Lifting with Extreme Precaution the Cuticle of a Grand Piano and explain the Provenance.
The painting was first sold by Julien Levy at an exhibition of Salvador Dalí's work in 1936. The Julien Levy Gallery was a prominent venue for Surrealists and avant-garde artists in the 1930s and 1940s. Levy sold the painting to Mr. Thomas Hart Fisher and Mrs. Ruth Page Fisher, who owned the painting until at least 1969. By 1985, the painting was in the possession of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph R. Shapiro. Mr. Shapiro was the founding president of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and an active trustee at the Art Institute of Chicago. The Art Institute of Chicago acquired the painting as a gift from Shapiro in 1996.
Art Institute of Chicago Julien Levy Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago Salvador Dalí Chicago