Despite the religion of Renato Guttuso was not apparently being recorded, it could be told from his painting ‘Crucifixion’, which depicted the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, that he did have faith in the Christianity since this work was released during the war time for which Guttuso wished to support those whose thoughts were not accepted by others. Therefore, it is believed that his faith in Christianity had greatly influenced his understanding of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy and created the work in the perspective of how Christians perceive hell.

 

As a member of the Surrealist movement, Dalí’s experimental imagery and bizarre, flamboyant behaviour was embraced by his peers. Themes of death, memory, decay and sexual symbolism dominate Dalí’s early work, drawing significant inspiration from the psychoanalytic studies of Sigmund Freud through imagery of dreams, hallucinations and the unconscious. However, following the Second World War Dalí’s style became more focused as a result of his newfound interest and understanding in areas of religious mysticism and nuclear physics. He began incorporating aspects of classicism and the styles of great Italian Renaissance artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. 

 

On the 700^th anniversary of Dante Alighieri’s birth, Dalí was commissioned by the Italian government to create a lavish illustration of ‘The Divine Comedy’. This piece of literature is regarded extremely highly and with immense pride by many Italians, thus the decision to enlist a Spaniard rather than an Italian caused public outrage. Additionally, the pope’s choice of a self-proclaimed ‘Surrealist void of all moral values’ agitated many and ultimately saw the termination of Dalí’s contract by the Italian Government. Dalí chose to continue his work with the assistance of French publisher, Joseph Forêt, and painted 100 watercolours between 1951 and 1960 to depict the 14 000 verses of the Comedy.