Salvador Dalí illustrated one of the editions of the “Divine Comedy” published in 1960. The watercolours illustrating Dante’s journey through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise can be viewed at the Długa Gallery until 31 October this year.
Salvador Dalí is known mainly for his unreal paintings inspired by dreams. The famous surrealist, provocateur and egotist illustrated a masterpiece of world literature with humility. There is little here that is typical of him. Several illustrations of Hell and Purgatory feature his characteristic symbols. In “The Fallen Angel”, a figure with drawers protruding from its torso appears; in “Devouring Each Other”, one pancake-like, melted head sucks in another.
The illustration for the first canto of “Inferno” has the poetics of the best-known art film, “Un Chien Andalou”. An empty space is crossed by two unnaturally straight lines marking the road depicted in the image. An atmosphere of unreality, emptiness and solitude opens the way to Hell.
In his illustrations of Paradise, Dalí succumbs to the charm of monumental Baroque wall painting. The figures of angels and saints are painted with great sweep, in large, colourful patches. The artist, raised by a freethinking and anticlerical father, imitates the most Catholic style there was: the Baroque.
Salvador Dalí’s watercolours create an extraordinary space and atmosphere. His Surrealism corresponds perfectly with the poetics of a journey into the afterlife, beyond time and space. The exhibition gains particular piquancy from the fact that the illustrations for the poem—a synthesis of medieval religious thought—were created by an iconoclast who wrote about himself: “The only difference between a madman and me is that I am not one.”
(information: Grażyna Hanaf)