Salvador Dali (1904-1989) - El árbol de la penitencia – La Divina Comedia - Pañuelo de seda

SALVADOR DALÍ (1904–1989)

"The Tree of Penitence" – The Divine Comedy

Purgatorio, Canto XXIV – Silk scarf from the collection, 1988

Author: Salvador Dalí
Title: The Tree of Penitence
Series: The Divine Comedy – Purgatorio, Canto XXIV
Textile series editor: Société d’Éditions d’Art Les Heures Claires, France
Publication date: 1988
Technique: Printing on natural silk
Measurements: 85 × 85 cm
Presentation: Original collection case

Magnificent silk scarf from the collection reproducing "The Tree of Penitence," one of the famous illustrations created by Salvador Dalí for Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy.

The composition belongs to Canto XXIV of Purgatorio and is part of the extraordinary artistic project developed by Dalí during the 1950s, which culminated with the publication of his one hundred illustrations by the prestigious Parisian publisher Les Heures Claires, between 1960 and 1963.

In 1988 a collection of silk scarves was published reproducing the compositions from The Divine Comedy, under an agreement with Salvador Dalí dated July 12, 1981 and a publishing contract with Société d’Éditions d’Art Les Heures Claires, documented July 6, 1988.

The work displays extraordinary chromatic richness, with blues, turquoises, ochers and reds. The human figures, the tree of fantastical shapes and the dreamlike atmosphere reflect Dalí’s unmistakable surrealist language.

The scarf bears Dalí’s reproduced signature and the title of the composition, in addition to an additional larger signature on the silk.

It features an elegant turquoise-blue perimetral finish and preserves its original black textile label and case with Salvador Dalí’s name stamped in gold, accompanied by a reproduction of his work.

References and documentation

The composition "The Tree of Penitence" belongs to the graphic cycle of The Divine Comedy, cited in the specialized bibliography on Salvador Dalí’s graphic work.

The 1988 textile edition is documented by specimens of other cantos marketed with original editor’s certificates from Les Heures Claires.

These references document the existence and commercial circulation of this composition in textile form, independently of its better-known graphic version on paper.

Condition report

Item with vivid colors, storage creases and some tonal variations visible in photographs. It retains its original case.

An interesting piece of Dalinian collecting, issued from one of The Divine Comedy’s compositions, which brings together art, textile design and universal literature.