Salvador Dali (1904-1989) - Mahomet - La Divina Comedia de Dante Alighieri — Infierno, canto XXVIII

SALVADOR DALÍ (1904–1989)

MAHOMET — MAHOMA

Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy — Inferno, Canto XXVIII

Date: 1959–1963
Edition: Joseph Foret / Les Heures Claires, Paris.
Technique: Color woodcut, made from an original watercolour by Salvador Dalí.
Support: Japanese paper, without watermarks or filigrees, according to the provided data.
Dimensions: 33 × 26 cm.

Obra catalogada:

* Michler & Löpsinger, Salvador Dalí. Catalogue Raisonné of Prints, volume II, reference no. 1066.
* Albert Field, The Official Catalog of the Graphic Works of Salvador Dalí, pages 189–200.

Description:

Extraordinary surrealist composition by Salvador Dalí, belonging to his monumental graphic interpretation of The Divine Comedy, one of the artist's most important and renowned editorial achievements.

The work illustrates canto XXVIII of Dante Alighieri's Inferno, corresponding to the eighth circle, where the souls of the sowers of discord and division are found, according to medieval religious and literary conception of the Florentine poet.

Dalí develops a composition of extraordinary dramatic intensity, featuring a human figure with violently distorted anatomy, whose limbs and organs intertwine in a complex structure of organic and geometric forms.

The contrast between the delicate ochre tones and the intense orange and bluish brushstrokes, together with the sharp elements piercing the figure, confers to the scene a powerful expressiveness.

The depiction constitutes a magnificent example of Dalí's surrealist universe, where the human body, anatomical transformation and dream imagery are combined with the symbolism of classical literature.

The work is part of the renowned editorial project of The Divine Comedy, developed between 1959 and 1963, whose production required approximately 3,500 wood-cut matrices to reproduce the one hundred original compositions by the master.

Copy presented on Japanese paper, with wide margins and no watermarks, in accordance with the support description provided.

Notable graphic work by Salvador Dalí, catalogued and of special interest to collectors of Surrealism, original graphic work and large bibliophilic editions of the 20th century.
Provenance: collection linked to Enrique Sabater