Title: Mohammed, The Divine Comedy Series

Medium: Lithograph, Hand signed in pencil

Dimensions: 23 ½” x 26'” Framed, Unframed 10” x13”

One of Dali’s interpretations from Dante’s, The Divine Comedy. It is from Hell # 29. Part man, part skeleton is tortured with its own entrails and limbs and crucified with nails in Hell as Virgil and Dante watch in horror. A great example of Dali’s 100 Surrealist watercolors, turned lithographic prints, created between 1951 and 1960.

Dali was an unusual choice to illustrate the Italian writer, Dante Alighieri’s “The Divine Comedy” to commemorate the 700^th anniversary of Dante’s birth in 1950. Dante’s epic poem is considered one of Italy’s national treasures, a work embraced by both Italian cultural institutions and the Roman Catholic Church. When it was announced in 1950 that Dalí—a Spanish Surrealist who had rejected religion in his past—had been chosen by the Italian government to bring to life a work that was so distinctly Italian. The Italian government eventually canceled the project but Dalí persisted with his illustrations, thanks largely to his affinity for Dante. Dalí had created 34 watercolors illustrating Inferno, 33 illustrating Purgatory, and 33 illustrating Paradise.