Color woodcut on luxurious Velin de Rives paper, 30 x 23 cm inside the mat, framed in a frame measuring 48 x 39 cm;
Limited edition; individual woodcuts are unnumbered (colophon)
Signed on the block, lower right
Publisher: Editions d'Art Les Heures Claires, Paris 1963
Woodcuts produced by Ateliers Jacquet et Taricco, Paris, in collaboration with Jean Taricco and Paul Massina
References:
-Michler, Löpsinger - "Catalogue Raisonné of Prints, Lithographs, and Wood Engravings 1956–1980," nos. 1039–1138
-Eduard Fornes, “Dali Illustrator of Dante: The Divine Comedy,” Les Heures Claires, 2016, pp. 125–207
In Canto XXIV of Purgatory, Dante and Virgil wander through the Sixth Terrace, where the souls of the gluttonous and the overindulgent are doing penance. There they encounter a remarkable, mystical tree growing in the middle of the path, from whose crown pure water flows, and whose fruit smells so intensely that it arouses an overwhelming hunger. From the tree’s crown come voices calling for moderation and reminding them of the consequences of the sin of gluttony.
In the factual layer of Dante’s poem, on the Sixth Terrace of Purgatory, the poet is also accompanied by Virgil. (Beatrice formally joins him only in the Earthly Paradise at the summit of Purgatory.) However, when designing this series, Salvador Dalí approached the text with exceptional freedom and allegorical interpretation: The figure on the left (clad in brown and red) represents Dante himself (the earthly pilgrim), while the female figure is Beatrice—clad entirely in blue, she serves as his spiritual guide and the embodiment of grace, reaching toward the heavenly light above the tree.
The sunbeams streaming in from the upper right corner emphasize that the punishment in Purgatory is carried out under divine protection and leads to salvation.
The figures cannot touch the fruit or the water—the entire scene is filled with a surreal sense of suspension. Here, Dalí perfectly captures the idea of Purgatory: punishment is not damnation (as in Hell), but a purifying process full of light, peace, and hope.
