June 23, 2021 - June 25, 2021
Eames Fine Art is thrilled to launch the exhibition Salvador Dalí: The Divine Comedy. These woodcuts from the 1960s are Dalí’s Surrealist, unique interpretation of the legendary Italian epic poem by Dante Alighieri.
The works are an affordable way to own a piece by the great modernist Dalí. All woodcut prints are being sold for £350, £400, or £450.
This exhibition will be on at the Eames Fine Art Print Room on Bermondsey Street from Wednesday 23 June to Sunday 25 July
The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri is one of the best known, and greatest, epic works of literature ever created. Likewise, Salvador Dalí is often regarded as one of the most celebrated and most eccentric creatives within the pantheon of modern European artists. He is undoubtedly the greatest of Surrealists. These two greats come together in this collection of hauntingly gorgeous woodcuts done by Dalí in the 1960s to illustrate Dante’s famous three-part narrative poem. These images allow us to visualise hell, purgatory, and heaven in a thoroughly modern manner that adds a new perspective to the legendary words of Dante. Dalí used his own iconography and Surrealist imagination to add to and to interpret Dante’s cantos in a fresh way – not an easy task for a 700-year-old text. This exhibition at the Eames Fine Art Print Room will expose a fresh audience to Dalí’s distinctive Surrealist interpretations of Dante, demonstrating how the legendary Spanish artist’s iconoclastic creative genius was employed in illustrating the legendary Florentine poet’s text.
In 1950, to commemorate the 700th anniversary of Dante’s death, the Italian government commissioned Dalí to illustrate the Divine Comedy. After some conflict, the government terminated the contract, but Dalí was already immersed in the project and unwilling to give it up. He approached the French publisher Joseph Forêt, and his atelier Editions d’art Les Heures Claires, for collaboration. Each woodblock image represents a canto, or a chapter, of the Divine Comedy. This suite was made by carving 3,500 woodblocks, with approximately 35 separate blocks for each print. Dalí directly supervised the production of these woodblock prints, giving final approval for each of the pieces.
Wednesday 23 June – Sunday 25 July 2021
