SALVADOR DALÍ (1904-1989)
Le nouveau doute de Dante
signed and dated 'Dalí 1952' (upper left)
gouache, watercolor and pen and ink on paper
17 1/16 x 11 15/16 in (43.4 x 30.4 cm)
Executed in 1952
Footnotes:
The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by Nicolas and Olivier Descharnes.

Provenance
Joseph Forêt Collection, Paris.
Private collection, France (acquired from the above in the 1960s).
Thence by descent to the previous owner; their sale, Sotheby's, Paris, June 1, 2016, lot 27.
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner.

Literature
A. Field, The Official Catalog of the Graphic Works of Salvador Dali, New York, 1996, p. 200 (illustrated).
E. Fornés, Dalí Illustrator, Paris, 2016, no. (FO 118) PA 7 (illustrated p. 168).

The present work is an illustration for Paradiso, Canto 7 from Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy illustrated by Salvador Dalí and published by Joseph Forêt and Les Heures Claires in 1963.



Throughout his career, Salvador Dalí looked to literature, history and mythology for inspiration, reinterpreting these stories and themes and envisaging them in his own highly unique style. He created several series of watercolors and drawings inspired by a range of classical works of literature, including Cervantes's Don Quixote and Homer's Odyssey.

In 1950, the Italian State commissioned Salvador Dalí to illustrate Dante's The Divine Comedy to celebrate the 700th anniversary of the poet's birth, for which Dali created one hundred original watercolors. While this commission was ultimately cancelled due to protests from the Communists around the governments use of funds for such a commission, the watercolors were eventually reproduced in a limited edition of graphic work which was published by the French editor Joseph Foret between 1959 and 1963, in collaboration with Éditions d'Art Les Heures Claires.

The poem consists of 100 cantos describing a trip through the Afterlife, Virgil guiding Dante through Hell and Purgatory, and Beatrice through Paradise (the present work is an illustration for Paradiso, Canto 7). Dalí, familiar with The Divine Comedy from a young age, coveted the commission. During his eight years of exile in the United States, he announced his shift towards the classicism and mysticism visible in these works, in a new pictorial style that incorporates the atomization of the image. The original drawings and watercolors, including the present work, reflect the energy of Dalí's creative process when he worked on the illustrations between 1950 and 1952 in Portlligat.

The sheet is hinged to its backing board at two points along the upper edge, verso. The upper edge is unevenly cut, likely original to the artist. On the verso, there are several small stains to the extreme edges due to prior hinging adhesive; these are not visible on the recto of the composition. A couple of small foxing spots, here and there. The sheet it lightly time stained. Subject to the foregoing, it is in our opinion that the work appears to be in excellent condition.