The University of Tennessee Gallery had an opening for first Friday this June 4th that presented prints of all of Salvador Dali's illustrations from Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. The Divine comedy was written between 1306 and 1321 and describes Dante's symbolic journey through Hell or the Inferno, Purgatory, and Heaven or Paradisio. There are 100 water colors in all that make up the illustrations from Dante's work. Dali was commissioned to paint these illustrations of The Divine Comedy in 1957 by the Italian Government to honor the 700th anniversary of the birth of Dante Alighieri. Although the Italian people were enraged that the Italian government would commission a Spanish artist to paint this important piece of Italian literature and the commission was dropped Dali continued to work on this for nine years and was finally published in 1964. Dali considered this to be one of the most important projects of his career. The collection of prints from Dali's work was donated to the University of Tennessee alumnus Gary Johnson.
Salvador Dali's illustrations were featured for June's first friday at UT's downtown gallery and were truly amazing to see. Dali was such an extraordinary artist with a truly unique imagination and it was very exciting to see him illustrate The Divine Comedy, such a great piece of literature with his unique mode of painting and excellent imagination of the words Dante gave us in his Divine Comedy. Seeing all 100 pieces together was a very unique experience especially with having read Dante's work. Seeing each of the images organized into the categories of Paradisio, Pergatorio, and Inferno helped create some division of the parts of the story and truly make the words of Dante come visually to life. The organization really aided in helping this show create an experience that made the story come to life.
The exhibit also had great information about the work and and the history behind it posted on the wall for us to read and become aquainted with Dali's experience with this set of illustrations. Also posted on the wall was a quick summary of Dante's Divine comedy that allowed people who have not read this work, or those who have not read it in a while learn about the story that Dante wrote and understand the great images that were being displayed.
The exhibit was really a great experience. I enjoyed being able to see all of Dali's illustrations being shown together and how it was organized so that we got a clear idea of what the illustrations were and the story that was being told. It really shows Salvador Dali's great talent and imagination as well as the great talent of Dali as a writer to provide such inspiration for this important work.
Salvador Dali's illustrations were featured for June's first friday at UT's downtown gallery and were truly amazing to see. Dali was such an extraordinary artist with a truly unique imagination and it was very exciting to see him illustrate The Divine Comedy, such a great piece of literature with his unique mode of painting and excellent imagination of the words Dante gave us in his Divine Comedy. Seeing all 100 pieces together was a very unique experience especially with having read Dante's work. Seeing each of the images organized into the categories of Paradisio, Pergatorio, and Inferno helped create some division of the parts of the story and truly make the words of Dante come visually to life. The organization really aided in helping this show create an experience that made the story come to life.
The exhibit also had great information about the work and and the history behind it posted on the wall for us to read and become aquainted with Dali's experience with this set of illustrations. Also posted on the wall was a quick summary of Dante's Divine comedy that allowed people who have not read this work, or those who have not read it in a while learn about the story that Dante wrote and understand the great images that were being displayed.
The exhibit was really a great experience. I enjoyed being able to see all of Dali's illustrations being shown together and how it was organized so that we got a clear idea of what the illustrations were and the story that was being told. It really shows Salvador Dali's great talent and imagination as well as the great talent of Dali as a writer to provide such inspiration for this important work.
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