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Fine Art, Woodcut, Salvador Dali "
The Black Cherub," also known as "Inferno Canto 20: Soothsayers and Sorcerers," from his series illustrating Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy.
About the Artwork
Artist: Salvador Dalí (1904-1989), a Spanish surrealist artist.
Series: The artwork is part of a series of 101 illustrations created by Dalí between 1951 and 1960 for Dante's epic poem The Divine Comedy. These watercolors were later reproduced as color wood engravings.
Subject: This particular piece depicts a scene from Canto 20 of Dante's Inferno, which describes the punishment of soothsayers and sorcerers. Their heads are twisted around backward on their bodies, forcing them to walk forward while looking behind them. The image in the search results is also referred to as "The Black Cherub" and "The Logician Devil," and it is also identified as being from Canto 27 of the Inferno. There are different prints associated with these different cantos.
Technique: The illustrations were created using a wood engraving technique, which involved carving up to 35 woodblocks for each image to produce the rich color palette.
Editions: Multiple editions of the prints were published, including a French edition by Les Heures Claires and an Italian edition by Arte e Scienze Salani.
Description: Dalí reinterpreted Dante's journey with his unique surrealist style, blending dreamlike imagery with the original text. He used light colors to depict hell, explaining that romanticism had created a false impression of a dark and gloomy underworld. |
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