Paris auction house Bonhams to offer Salvador Dalí's largest painting, or rather a theatre backdrop measuring 20 by 30 metres

Dalí created the backdrop for the ballet Bacchanale, a surrealist production of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. Dalí also wrote the libretto and designed some of the costumes for the production. Besides Dalí, the creation of the ballet involved Coco Chanel and Prince Alexander Shervashidze, the legendary set designer of the Ballets Russes, who supervised the making of the scenery in the company's workshop in Monte Carlo. The ballet premiered in November 1939 at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Because of the war in Europe, Dalí was unable to attend, and Chanel refused to send her costumes. Nevertheless, the production was well received by the public and subsequently toured the United States.

At the centre of the backdrop is the Mountain of Venus (the mythical Venusberg of German folklore). Beyond it stretches the plain of Empordà, a stony wasteland near Dalí's birthplace in Spain. The set originally included a giant wooden swan, through whose torn breast the dancers made their entrance onto the stage. Regrettably, it has not survived to our day.