When you first arrive at college, you know things are going to be very different. For one thing, you don’t know anyone, and many people seem intimidatingly smart (or maybe that was just me). It could also be the first time you are away from home for an extended period of time, and you need to learn to fend for yourself in many ways, aside from just securing food and shelter. One of the first things to do is to figure out how to decorate your dorm room, personalize the grey walls and make it your own. In my generation, it meant going to the college store and buying some cool posters to put on the walls. Rock stars, psychedelic art (yes, it was that long ago), or other art posters dominated dorm decor.
And at one point in time you either bought or saw the following poster in someone’s room:
Called “The Persistence of Memory,” this work was commonly referred to as the “melting clocks” piece by Salvador Dali. Maybe it had something to do how time seemed so malleable back then, or maybe that life in college was somehow surreal, but the melting clocks always seemed to strike a chord among undergrads. For those of you who still want to buy one, there are plenty available on eBay (search here).
But if you have moved beyond wanting a simple art reproduction on a poster, you might be interested in one of today’s remarkable listings, like this Original Salvador Dali Woodblock Print of Dante’s Divine Comedy #20 of Purgatory yqz:
With the current high bid at just $140, the print seems very affordable. But wait, you are probably wondering how an original Dali could be found on eBay. The listing explains:
“We are so excited, in our possession is Salvador Dali’s complete set of 100 woodblock prints of Dante’s The Divine Comedy. Each woodblock has a block signature in the image area and are matted in a paper sleeve. That would make this the “German Edition” of this set. They were published by Les Heures Claires in France.
There were approx. 386 German editions completed. (There were two other editions printed, the French Edition and the Italian edition, neither one of those were matted nor completely signed with the block signature in every woodblock.) That makes these the rarest of all the Divine Comedy sets out there.”
There is a lot more information on the listing itself. It is important to know that there are a number of prints available. The seller is calling this the “30 Days of Dali,” and we have to say, it is quite the cool event for Dali enthusiasts and art lovers.
Here is another piece, entitled an Original Salvador Dali Woodblock Print of Dante’s Divine Comedy #24 of Purgatory yqz:
Each description also specifically talks about the piece on sale. For this one, the listing notes:
“This auction is for the twenty fourth from the second part, Purgatory. Titled, “Canto 24: The Tree Of Punishment ”.
It measures approx. 9 5/8” x 13” for the print sheet, the bottom edge deckled, matted in a sleeve that measures approx. 13” x 17” with the right edges deckled.”
Each of these pieces represents a part of Dante’s work, The Divine Comedy. Actually, just thinking about Dante’s epic poem brings me right back to my college days, when it was required Freshman reading. For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure, Dante’s work is considered a masterpiece in the world of literature, and arguably the greatest piece composed in Italian. The listing notes that the “poem’s imaginative and allegorical vision of the afterlife is a culmination of the medieval world-view as it had developed in the Western Church.”
No matter if you have read the work or not (or understand it), we’re sure you can appreciate the masterful portrayal by Dali. The 30 days of Dali are almost over, so you’ll need to act fast if you are interested. Take a look here to see all the available pieces.
Here is an interesting video from the seller, describing the pieces:
