Dali’s lips sofa gets export ban in hope UK buyer can be found

 Salvador Dali’s Mae West Lips Sofa could leave the country unless a buyer is found to pay its total asking price of almost £600,000.

The Government has placed a temporary export bar on the sofa, which Dali created with surrealist poet Edward James. A buyer will have to be found to match the asking price of £480,281.56 plus VAT by Feb 16 for it to remain in the UK.

John Glen, arts minister, said: “This iconic piece is considered to be the single most important example of surrealist furniture ever made in Britain. I very much hope that a buyer comes forward to keep this unique item in the UK.”

The 1938 item of furniture has been described as the most famous object in the history of surrealism.

Five of the sofas were made, with the version on sale altered by James, with the lips elongated, to make it an integral part of the surrealist interior of Monkton House in West Sussex.