Going through Hell: The Divine Dante

Auguste Rodin, The Thinker (Le Penseur), model 1880, cast 1901, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

Florentine poet, writer and philosopher Dante Alighieri’s (1265-1321) Divine Comedy called Commedia in Italian, was written in the Florentine vernacular that formed the basis for the modern Italian language. It describes Dante’s journey through Hell (Inferno), Purgatory (Purgatorio) and Paradise (Paradiso), guided first by the ancient Roman poet Virgil, and then his beloved Beatrice. In the more than 700 years since it was written, the Divine Comedy has remained one of the most influential works of Western literature.

Going through Hell: The Divine Dante explores the influence of this seminal manuscript in some 20 works all from the National Gallery’s collection. Beginning with the 16th century painted Allegorical Portrait of Dante these range from rare early printed editions of the Divine Comedy to sculptures by Auguste Rodin created initially for his monumental project The Gates of Hell, to works on paper from the 15th to 20th century, from William Blake to Robert Rauschenberg.

The website also features an online exhibition, Going through Hell? See Dante’s “The Divine Comedy” in Art.