Divine Comedy - L'Enfer - Chant 6 - Cerberus - Woodcut - 118/4765 - "Collectors Set"

Art Historical Context

Salvador Dalí’s illustrations for Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy represent one of the most ambitious graphic cycles of the twentieth century, spanning Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso across 100 images.

In L’Enfer, Chant VI, Dante and Virgil descend into the Third Circle of Hell, where the gluttonous are punished. Their excess in life is mirrored by a landscape of endless filth: heavy rain, freezing sludge, and unceasing torment. Cerberus, the three-headed beast of classical mythology, guards and mauls the damned.

Dalí’s choice of woodcut intensifies the scene’s corporeality. The medium’s weighty blacks and carved contours emphasize mass, saturation, and confinement, transforming the canto into a visual study of physical degradation and sensory overload.

Authentication & Documentation

This artwork is accompanied by a structured Authentication Report, offering transparent and research-based documentation specific to this individual woodcut.

• Edition and numbering verification
• Medium and technique confirmation
• Research references related to the Divine Comedy series
• High-resolution photographic documentation

This approach supports informed collecting and responsible evaluation of Dalí’s graphic works.

Collecting Significance

Chant VI is among the most viscerally physical scenes in the Inferno. Collectors drawn to Dalí’s exploration of bodily excess, repetition, and punishment often regard this canto as a powerful example of his ability to translate moral concepts into material form.

As a woodcut, the image gains additional gravitas through its tactile quality and sculptural density, making it a compelling counterpart to etched versions of the Divine Comedy.