Artist : DALI Salvador (1904-1989)
Title : The divine forest, Song 28 of Purgatory from Dante's Divine Comedy
Medium : Woodcut on pure Rives vellum paper
Type of work : Print by the artist signed in the plate. Draw number 4556
Dimensions : 33 x 26 cm
Condition : Good
Provenance : Certified original of the artist, the invoice engage the gallery's responsibility for the authenticity of the work.
Expert's comments : This edition of DANTE's divine comedy illustrated by Salvador DALI offers us a meeting six centuries apart. In 1951, he produced the 100 watercolors necessary for the 1963 edition of the 100 magnificent prints (of which this print is part) printed by the art editions les heures clair. These prints required 4 years of patient and diligent work. Indeed, 3,500 woodcuts were used for their printing. We recognize in this work sold by the gallery the surrealist style of DALI which helps to show the spiritual distraction of the poet DANTE and forces us to reflect on ourselves.
References : Michler & Löpsinger catalog ref (1039 to 1138) for the 100 woodcuts. See the photo below for the proof of the draw.
Artist's biography : Salvador Dalí is a Spanish painter born in Figueras in 1904 and died in the same city in 1989. DALI is considered one of the main representatives of surrealism and one of the most famous painters of the twentieth century. Influenced at a young age by Impressionism, he left Figueras to receive an academic artistic education in Madrid where he befriended Federico García Lorca and Luis Buñuel and sought his style by drawing on various artistic movements. On the advice of Joan Miró, he joined Paris at the end of his studies and joined the group of surrealists. He found his own style from 1929, when he became a full surrealist and invented the paranoid-critical method. Excluded from this group a few years later, he lived the Spanish Civil War in exile in Europe before leaving warring France for New York. On his return to Catalonia in 1949, he made a shift towards Catholicism in particular, hence his keen interest in works such as DANTE's Divine Comedy.
It was a state commission in 1950 that prompted Salvador DALI to engage in the production of these 100 watercolors illustrating the 100 songs of DANTE's The Divine Comedy. In 1959, a contract was signed with Les Heures Claires, which bought the exclusivity of all rights to La Divine Comédie.
This edition of La divine comédie de DANTE and in particular the prints that accompany it is unanimously greeted by the press and the production of Heures Claires (6 volumes with 100 prints illustrating the 100 songs including this one) is recognized as a remarkable editorial event. .
This description was developed by us following our expertise and the various reference books on the artist in our possession, any copying is therefore prohibited.