"Not only is this discovery hugely important because it is considered the first surrealist work of Salvador Dali," said Nicolas Descharmes, a world renowned expert on the artist, "but because of the meaning and context it can bring to many of his subsequent works." He explained that painting, which has been entitled "The Intrauterine Birth of Salvador Dali", explores a recurring theme in the works and writings of the artist, who died aged 84 at his home in Figueras on Catalonia's Costa Brava in 1989.