The present collection of thirty-five works—spanning collage, drawing and painting atop photographic prints—were created by Dalí for reproduction in his celebrated publication, Les Vins de Gala between 1976 and 1977.

Les Vins de Gala is a lavish and surrealistic tribute to the transformative powers of wine, conceived as the hedonistic sequel to Salvador Dalí’s earlier gastronomic fantasia Les Dîners de Gala (1973). Published in October 1977 by the Parisian house Draeger as Les Vins de Gala du Divin, and later released in English by Abrams, the book reimagines the traditional wine guide as a dreamlike, emotional journey rather than a prosaic compilation of varietals. Les Vins de Gala celebrates intoxication as both alchemy and art—an ecstatic communion between the senses, the subconscious, and the divine.

Structured in two parts, the book reflects the duality of its creators: Dalí and Gala. Dalí organized in oenological categories such as the Wines of Shiraz, King Minos (referring to the ancient Cretan winery), the mystical Lacryma Christi from the volcanic slopes of Vesuvius, Rothschild’s Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Great Bordeaux Wines, Romanée-Conti, Château d’Yquem, and even the emerging Wines of California. Gala’s classifications, by contrast, are entirely unorthodox—grouped by feeling, time, and atmosphere. Her categories include Joy, People, Aestheticism, Dawn, Sensuality, Light, Generosity, Frivolity, Veils, and The Impossible—each addressing the emotional terrain of the hour before sunrise.

For the prose, Dalí sought the assistance of Louis Orizet, a Beaujolais viticulturist and politician, and wine luminary Georges Duboeuf, with an introductory acrostic poem by Baron Philippe de Rothschild. Orizet articulates the book’s mission statement: to reject traditional wine criticism by organizing wines not by origin or grape but “according to the sensations they create in our very depths.”  The volume’s 140 illustrations—selected by Gala and drawn from Dalí’s repertoire of religious motifs, surrealist flourishes, and autobiographical fragments—underline the surreality of the text. 

In 2017, Taschen reintroduced Les Vins de Gala to a contemporary zeitgeist with a facsimile edition, ensuring that Dalí’s ecstatic, bacchic vision of wine—equal parts myth, madness, and sensory revelation—continues to intoxicate new generations.