One of the most celebrated works of art by the Francoist press was the portrait that Salvador Dalí made of Carmen Martínez-Bordiú Franco, the Caudillo's granddaughter, baptized as "María del Carmen rides on the horse of history". It was said to be a wedding gift from Alfonso de Borbón y Dampierre, grandson of Alfonso XIII and cousin of Juan Carlos, to his future wife, and the intermediaries who arranged the commission on behalf of the government promised Dalí a surprising compensation: he could choose three works from the Prado Museum funds. But La Vanguardia has had access to diverse documentation that shows that Dalí never received any payment for that work.
This week marks the 50th anniversary of the delivery of this magnificent oil painting, 1.60 x 1.80 meters, to Franco's granddaughter. She herself explained in pseudo-memoirs published by Hola magazine that her fiancé gave her a diamond ring that had belonged to her grandmother, Queen Victoria, and a diamond bracelet. “At the same time he told me that he would be delighted if I gave him a painting of mine… painted by Dalí”. She relates that "my mother began to make arrangements, but, with everything and with that, the painting could not be done until almost two years later." And when they parted, they agreed that Alfonso would keep the jewels again and she would keep the painting.
But what the “grandest” does not explain are the conditions that Dalí set to paint the painting or how he was convinced.
The announcement of the engagement and the gifts was made at a press conference on December 22, 1971. A few days before, Mariano Calviño, attorney in the Cortes and national adviser to the Movement, a big shot of the regime, called Salvador Dalí by phone to the Hotel Meurice in Paris to make the order. Of Catalan origin (born in Manresa in 1907), Calviño was part of the Falange, participated in the Blue Division, and in the transition he was one of the supporters of Alfonso de Borbón's candidacy for the crown, against that of Juan Carlos. Dalí replied that he had to consult with Gala and his dealer. Calviño then turned to his friend Miguel Mateu, who had been mayor of Barcelona between 1939 and 1945, was the owner of Peralada castle and a friend of both Franco and Dalí. And this in turn sought the intercession of Ramon Guardiola, mayor of Figueres. The issue was presented as a very important task for the country.
The mayor of Figueres traveled to Paris with the power to negotiate a price for the portrait that could range between 200,000 and 500,000 pesetas. Dalí requested 100,000 dollars (about seven million pesetas at the time). It was the amount his dealers were asking for the portraits, but he was willing to do it for half the price. Calviño and Mateu agreed that it was too much. And then Dalí put two alternatives on the table: the gift of a relevant painting for his future museum in Figueres –he even suggested the name of the financier Juan March as patron– or the transfer as a deposit for his museum of some of the paintings in the museum of the Prado that they were in the warehouses. And the artist put another condition. Since he had started a portrait of Prince Juan Carlos, he couldn't relegate it without his approval. Calviño accepted plan B and authorized the Prado operation. Juan Carlos did not object
Alfonso and Carmen married on March 8, 1972 and went to live in Sweden, where he served as ambassador. It was not until the summer that contact with Dalí was resumed to begin the portrait. Miguel Mateu invited the young couple to spend a few days in the Empordà and coincide with Dalí. The couple arrived at Girona airport on August 2 and the Marchioness of Villaverde, Franco's daughter and Carmen's mother, and Gonzalo de Borbón, Alfonso's brother, were waiting for them there. And in the following days they coincided with Dalí in Portlligat and Púbol, and in the castle of Peralada, where the painter took various notes from life. His idea was to paint Carmen on horseback and Dalí moved a copy, called Rumboso, to Peralada. But she was already six months pregnant and she just posed standing next to the horse. From those days, Carmen she would later remember that she had danced sardanas, that she tasted bread with tomato and that she met Amanda Lear, “that she had just become a woman”. All the press of the heart turned to the visit. “In his artistic life, Dalí has painted close to a hundred portraits but none equestrian”, he titled Black and White. Alfonso de Borbón declared to Lecturas: "I would like my son to have the intelligence of General Franco, the beauty and simplicity of my wife and the refinement of my mother-in-law."
Dalí finished the portrait in the fall and delivered it to the Pardo Palace in Madrid on November 7, without the young couple but in the presence of their parents, the Marquises of Villaverde, and their maternal grandparents, Francisco Franco and Carmen Polo. For the transfer, the insurance company La Estrella valued the painting at 5 million pesetas. The painting represents Carmen wearing a white blouse, mounted on a horse that reveals a landscape where you can see the Escorial monastery and some characters taken from The Surrender of Breda, by Velázquez. Dalí described it thus: “In the constantly changing clouds of diplomacy, the horse of history stands out, revealing the luminous horizon and the immutable sky of the Caudillo's serene Spain”. The next day the image of Dalí and Franco next to the painting appeared on all the front pages of the national press, competing with the news of Richard Nixon's broad victory in the American presidential elections over the Democrat McGovern. The news of Prince Juan Carlos's trip to Barcelona to visit the Vallvidrera tunnel, inaugurate some health facilities and open the Liceo season was relegated, even in the Catalan press. But Dalí must have been wary of some of the headlines: "The news is that for the first time in his life, Dalí has given a painting as a gift."
Upon his return from Madrid, Dalí made specific to the mayor of Figueres his request for three paintings for the central space of his museum located under the dome (where 16 years later he would say to another mayor that he wanted to be buried): “My wishes regarding the museum del Prado: Portrait of a king, queen or prince, preferably Carreño or close, the two lateral pictures of history, Spanish authors. A hug, Dalí” (letter sent to R. Guardiola on November 28, 1972). He even attached plans to its possible location, on the wall where the curtain of The Labyrinth is today. And Guardiola sends it to the director of the Prado, Xavier de Salas.
Dalí returned to Madrid on May 29, 1973 to give the conference “Velázquez and I”, in the Prado Museum and in front of The Surrender of Breda by Velázquez. And there he himself gave the final touches to the portrait of what was then the Duchess of Cádiz. He limited himself to two strokes. The Spanish news this time dared to headline "Dalí did not convince". Some considered that with that intervention the art gallery had been desecrated.
During the following months, letters were exchanged between Guardiola, Calviño, Salas and the Ministers of Education and Culture José Luis Villar Palasí and Julio Rodríguez. Miguel Mateu has already passed away. “We cannot stop dealing with this. Dear Mariano: I know it's a problem, but what should we do? We can't look bad with someone who behaved very well with you ”Guardiola writes to Calviño with some desperation. And this one recommends that he go to Alfonso himself. Meanwhile, the director of the Prado stalls, saying that he has no instructions, despite the fact that Dalí sends him a telegram announcing his presence in Madrid “to choose works from the Figueras museum deposit”. There were only four months left for the inauguration of the Dalí museum. On July 3, Guardiola writes to Calviño again: "Dalí insists that I no longer have to make the arrangements, but receive the news of the delivery of the deposit."
The Dalí Theatre-Museum was opened on September 28, 1974 without the deposits of the Prado. That same summer Dalí resumed the painting of Prince Juan Carlos in whose situation his assistant, then-Colonel Alfonso Armada, had inquired, with the excuse that he had to know the measures to save space in the Zarzuela. Dalí replied that he would be 2.60 meters tall and there is no evidence that he put a price.
On October 8, 1974, the General Director of Fine Arts, Joaquín Pérez Villanueva, sent a letter to Dalí in which he spoke of the “Prado paintings that we would initially have ready to send to the Museum”. One represents Queen Maria Cristina, it is signed by a certain F. Jover, 1890, 5.40 x 3.52 mt, and he adds that “it will go well with the character of the Museum itself, well within the time that the Museum itself It represents". The second, “also of a good size”, represents Juan José of Austria, and is by Jiménez Donoso “and it is a decorative and ostentatious painting”. The third represents "the miracle of Santa Leocadia", it is by a contemporary of Velázquez "called Cajés or Caxes", "it is being restored and cleaned and it may look good". The fourth is “The Trial of Paris”, by Jiménez, from the 19th century, and “the scene, as you will see, is not without its grace”. Dalí's response is not known, but it is known that he did not like any of the four. Franco died the following year and Dalí did not insist on the subject again.
