Wang Jie|
Exhibition

Dali depicts Dante's 'Divine Comedy' in exhibition

2023-05-26 to 2023-07-30
Bund 111 Art Space 外滩111艺术空间
111 Jiujiang Rd 九江路111号
2023-05-26 to 2023-07-30
Bund 111 Art Space 外滩111艺术空间
111 Jiujiang Rd 九江路111号
Dali depicts Dante's 'Divine Comedy' in exhibition

Salvador Dali (1904-1989)

Salvador Dali (1904-1989) is widely recognized as one of the three most seminal artists of the 20th century, alongside Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) and Henri Matisse (1869-1954).

An exhibition, "Encounter with Dali and Dante in Dreamland," is underway at Shanghai's Bund 111 Art Space through July 30.

It features 100 prints created by Dali who showed his understanding of human civilization and religious beliefs as portrayed in Dante Alighieri's masterpiece "The Divine Comedy."

By reproducing these 100 scenes, Dali achieved a perfect combination of classic and modern styles, divinity and secularity, and sense and sensibility.

Born in Figueres, Catalonia, Spain, Dali received his art education in Madrid. He was influenced by impressionism and Renaissance masters since his childhood. However, he was more and more attracted by cubism and the avant-garde art movement. In the late 1920s, he joined the surrealism group and soon became one of its representatives. "The Persistence of Memory," his best-known work, completed in August 1931, is one of the most famous surrealist paintings.

Surrealism was an artistic and literary movement founded by Andre Breton (1896-1966). It is characterized by a fascination with the bizarre, the irrational and the dreamlike, with the aim of generating images of the subconscious.

Dali also reflected such a surrealist atmosphere in these prints on display.

In 1950, Dali was commissioned by the Italian government to illustrate "The Divine Comedy" on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of Dante's birth, but the commission was eventually canceled for political reasons. The artist still completed the series of illustrations for "The Divine Comedy" in the following decade.

Dali depicts Dante's 'Divine Comedy' in exhibition

The third chapter of the exhibition: Hell.

The exhibition is divided into three chapters, as is Dante's work: Hell, Purgatory and Paradise.

Dali created 34 prints for the beginning of Dante's journey through "Hell" where he first encounters lust, pride and greed.

In portraying "Hell," Dali incorporates his research and scientific experiments based on Einstein's proposal of the composition of the atom and matter. He also applies the intense Mediterranean sunlight to make the paintings bright and clear, which forms a striking contrast to the darkness in "Hell" represented previously in the illustrations for "The Divine Comedy."

Dali depicts Dante's 'Divine Comedy' in exhibition

The third chapter of the exhibition: Purgatory.

Dali depicts Dante's 'Divine Comedy' in exhibition

The third chapter of the exhibition: Paradise

Exhibit info:

Date: Through July 30, Mondays-Saturdays, 9am-4:30pm

Venue: Bund 111 Art Space

Address: 111 Jiujiang Rd

九江路111号