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Brahegatan 10
BOX 5038
114 37 Stockholm
All auctions / Arts & Graphics / Salvador Dali (1904-1989) - La Divine Comédie de Dante...
SALVADOR DALÍ THE DIVINE COMEDY — DANTE ALIGHIERI Exceptional set of 18 silk engravings — Éditions d’Art Les Heures Claires, Paris, 1959–1963 Artist: Salvador Dalí (Figueres, 1904–1989) Work: The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri Publisher: Éditions d’Art Les Heures Claires, Paris Edition date: 1959–1963 Original technique: color wood engraving based on Salvador Dalí’s original watercolors Printer / engravers: Raymond Jacquet and Jean Taricco Support for the pieces in this lot: natural silk Number of works: 18 prints Composition: 14 from Hell and 4 from Paradise Signature: printed / plate signature of Salvador Dalí Dimensions: variable, approximately 30.5–32.5 × 24.5–26 cm Bibliographic references: — Ralf Michler & Lutz W. Löpsinger, Salvador Dalí. Catalogue Raisonné of Prints II: Lithographs and Wood Engravings, 1956–1980, Prestel, 1995, refs. 1039–1138. — Albert Field, The Official Catalog of the Graphic Works of Salvador Dalí, pp. 189–200. DESCRIPTION Exceptional set of 18 Salvador Dalí engravings on silk, from the famous cycle created by the artist to illustrate Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy, one of the most ambitious graphic and bibliographic projects of his entire career. Dalí produced a set of 100 watercolors, one for each canto of Dante’s work. To translate the extraordinary chromatic richness of these compositions into the language of printmaking, one of the most complex printing processes undertaken in the 20th century was required. Under the editorial direction of Joseph Forêt and later Éditions d’Art Les Heures Claires, master printers Raymond Jacquet and Jean Taricco rendered Dalí’s watercolors through wood engraving. To reproduce the numerous color gradations, about 3,500 wood matrices were necessary, averaging roughly 35 matrices or color steps per composition. The execution process lasted approximately four years, with the French edition completed in 1963. The usual edition of The Divine Comedy was printed on Rives pur chiffon vélin. Parallelly, various suites and proofs were produced for special and deluxe editions, including rare silk impressions, today considerably less common in the market than standard paper impressions. The present lot brings together 18 silk impressions, a support that markedly alters the appearance of the images: the weave texture, its luminosity, and the characteristic ink absorption produce a visual effect very different from that obtained on paper. Other known and institutionally documented silk impressions of The Divine Comedy exist, which places these pieces among the most singular variants related to the edition. IMPORTANCE OF THE WORK The Divine Comedy is one of the great milestones of Salvador Dalí’s graphic work. The project originated from the watercolors the artist created to illustrate Dante’s journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. Dalí developed for them an extraordinarily personal universe in which surrealism, Christian tradition, erotism, metamorphosis, and references to classical painting intertwine. The technical complexity of the project is exceptional: the 100 original compositions were reproduced through thousands of overlaid wood matrices in successive prints to approach the transparency and richness of the original watercolors. INVENTORY HELL 1. Canto XV — Les Margelles du Phlégéton The sodomites Approx. 30.5 × 25 cm Michler & Löpsinger 1053 2. Canto XVIII — The Deceivers Approx. 31.5 × 24.5 cm Michler & Löpsinger 1056 3. Canto XIX — The Simoniacs Approx. 31.5 × 25 cm Michler & Löpsinger 1057 4. Canto XX — Soothsayers and Diviners Approx. 31.5 × 24.5 cm Michler & Löpsinger 1058 5. Canto XXII — The Barrators Approx. 30.5 × 25 cm Michler & Löpsinger 1060 6. Canto XXIII — The Hypocrites’ Punishment Approx. 31 × 25 cm Michler & Löpsinger 1061 7. Canto XXIV — The Thieves’ Punishment Approx. 31 × 25 cm Michler & Löpsinger 1062 8. Canto XXVII — The Liar, the Liar Approx. 30.5 × 25 cm Michler & Löpsinger 1065 9. Canto XXVIII — Bertrand de Born The sowers of discord Approx. 30.5 × 25 cm Michler & Löpsinger 1066 One of the most powerful and recognizable compositions of the cycle, in which Bertrand de Born is shown holding his own severed head. 10. Canto XXX — The Men Who Devour Each Other Approx. 31.5 × 25 cm Michler & Löpsinger 1068 11. Canto XXXI — The Giants Approx. 31.5 × 24.5 cm Michler & Löpsinger 1069 12. Canto XXXII — The Traitors to Their Country Approx. 30.5 × 25 cm Michler & Löpsinger 1070 13. Canto XXXIII — The Traitors to Their Hosts Approx. 31 × 25 cm Michler & Löpsinger 1071 14. Canto XXXIV — Apparition de Dité The appearance of Lucifer Approx. 31.5 × 25 cm Michler & Löpsinger 1072 Another fundamental composition of Hell, corresponding to the last canto and Lucifer’s appearance. PARADISE 15. Canto XXII — L’Ange du septième ciel The angel of the seventh heaven Approx. 32 × 26 cm Michler & Löpsinger 1127 16. Canto XXVII — Gloria Patri Approx. 32.5 × 25.5 cm Michler & Löpsinger 1132 17. Canto XXVIII — Dante and the Angels / Path to God Approx. 31.5 × 26 cm Michler & Löpsinger 1133 18. Canto XXX — À l’Empyrée In the Empyrean Approx. 32 × 26 cm Michler & Löpsinger 1135 COMMENTS ON THE SUPPORT The pieces display the small dimensional variations and irregularities typical of a flexible textile support and its preparation and cutting. These particularities should be regarded as material features of this type of printmaking and not confused with the much more uniform measurements of ordinary copies of The Divine Comedy printed on Rives vélin. REFERENCES AND DOCUMENTATION The complete series of The Divine Comedy is cataloged in: Ralf Michler & Lutz W. Löpsinger Salvador Dalí: Catalogue Raisonné of Prints II: Lithographs and Wood Engravings, 1956–1980 Prestel, Munich/New York, 1995. Numbers 1039–1138. Albert Field The Official Catalog of the Graphic Works of Salvador Dalí pp. 189–200. There are also bibliographic, institutional, and market records that expressly document silk impressions of The Divine Comedy, confirming the existence of special suites executed on this support. LOT OF PARTICULAR INTEREST TO COLLECTORS OF SALVADOR DALÍ GRAPHIC WORK AND OF GREAT 20th-CENTURY BIBLIOPHILIC EDITIONS.
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SALVADOR DALÍ. "The Ugly Duckling" (from H. C. Andersen Fairy-Tales).
11/20/2025
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