Robert Descharnes, a photographer and writer, has published studies of major artists, among them Antoni Gaudi and Auguste Rodin. Since 1950, he has been documenting and cataloguing Dali's paintings and writings, and is now considered the leading expert on the artist. Shortly before Dali's death, Descharnes was appointed by him to take charge of the rights to his works, within the Societe Demart Pro Arte B.V., of which Descharnes is president. Gilles Neret was an art historian, journalist, writer, and museum correspondent. He organized several art retrospectives in Japan and founded the SEIBU museum and the Wildenstein Gallery in Tokyo. He directed art reviews such as L'Oeil and Connaissance des Arts and received the Elie Faure Prize in 1981 for his publications. Neret is the editor of TASCHEN'S catalogues raisonnes of the works of Monet and Velazquez, as well as the author of Dali The Paintings and Erotica Universalis. He died on August 3, 2005.