Salvador Dali (Spanish, 1904-1989) ‘La Danse’ from Dante’s Divine Comedy, c. 1967

Lithograph on paper, singed in pencil and numbered 125/250, framed.

This lithograph was issued separately as an addition to Dali’s 1963 wood block engravings of Dante’s epic poem, The Divine Comedy. The project, originally conceived by the Italian government to celebrate the birth of their illustrious poet Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), was not well received by the Italian public, who resented Spanish Dali’s involvement, and was abandoned. Dali and a French publisher, Joseph Foret, continued and after nearly four years the 101 watercolours were reproduced into wood block engravings to be published in two different French editions, an Italian addition, and later in 1974 a larger German edition.