Image credit: Salvador Dalí, The Divine Comedy, Paradise, Language of the Birds, 1960, wood engraving in color on Rives paper after a watercolor, 9 1/2″ x 7 3/8”
May 3 – August 31, 2019
Salvador Dalí’s Stairway to Heaven presents two fine print portfolios by the artist, his illustrations for the Comte de Lautréamont’s Les Chants de Maldoror and Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy.
When Dalí created the first portfolio in the 1930s, he embraced Surrealism with its wildly imaginative dreamscapes. The libidinous lifestyle he and his wife led at this time is also evident in his work of the ’30s. By the time he illustrated Dante’s The Divine Comedy in the 1960s, Dalí had renounced Surrealism and become a born again Catholic. His personal life had shifted dramatically to embrace what he termed a divine or ‘mystical ecstasy’ which is evident in this second, celebrated portfolio.
This exhibition is curated by David S. Rubin and organized by Carole S. Sorell.
The works of art on loan are drawn from the collection of the Park West Museum. The presentation of this exhibition is made possible by The Park West Foundation.
Oglethorpe University Museum of Art is honored to participate in the national tour of this innovative exhibition and grateful to all those whose scholarship, diligence, and generosity have made this exhibition possible.
