Intrauterine Birth, 1921 — c. 1930.
Salvador Dalí began Intrauterine Birth in 1921, at seventeen, three years before André Breton published the Surrealist Manifesto. The painting was completed around 1930, when Dalí added the surrealist dedication in his own hand — placing the finished work within what Robert Descharnes and established Dalí scholarship identify as the artist's most valuable creative period (1929—1930), the years that produced The Persistence of Memory.
The work was acquired in a Spanish antique shop for €150 by a private collector who did not initially recognise its authorship. Subsequent authentication has confirmed Dalí's hand. The painting is held in trust by the DaoDalid Foundation, vaulted in Geneva, and has not previously been exhibited publicly.
Chain of custody.
The DALI token.
A cultural participation instrument, not a fractional ownership claim on the canvas. Issued, audited and supported within the iRWA ecosystem — intangible Real-World Assets — across three functions: earned participation, cross-asset exchange, and interoperability with the broader on-chain economy.
Tokens are issued for documented involvement: viewings, scholarship contributions, on-record support. Conviction-weighted, not auction-weighted.
DALI swaps natively against tokens for other cultural objects in the ecosystem. Participants build diversified positions across the class.
Bridge mechanisms to BTC, ETH and major stablecoins via established DEXs. Liquidity infrastructure suitable for institutional treasuries.
The DaoDalid Foundation.
The voice of the painting.
Leads outreach to institutional partners, scholars and cultural bodies. Responsible for custodianship, conservation, and the participation programme.
Welcomes correspondence from galleries, museums, university art departments and state cultural institutions.
For galleries, governments, and Dalí scholarship.
The Foundation engages institutional partners on familiar terms: provenance documentation, conservation reports, scholarly access, curated viewing.
What is novel is the participation model. iRWA extends fractional cultural participation without compromising the work's institutional integrity. The canvas remains physically and legally in the Foundation's care; participants gain audited cultural access, not legal title.
1Suspended fingers2Pointing index3Raised handA theory on the hands of Leonardo.
The angel Uriel's right hand suspended mid-air, fingers held in that unmistakable Leonardo arc. The left hand's pointing index, the compositional anchor. The infant's raised hand in answer. Three hands. All charged. All speaking.
The forthcoming research argues this gesture vocabulary echoes across five centuries into the hand-rendering of Salvador Dalí, particularly at the Theatre-Museum Dalí in Figueres. The project welcomes doctoral collaborators, museum partners and conservators.
Enquire about the research →Open dialogue with the Foundation.
For institutional partners interested in viewing Intrauterine Birth, contributing to scholarship, or exploring exhibition collaboration. Write to info@cceg.org.uk.