Salvador Dalì, L'Enfer des Beautes Cruelles, color engraving from Le Decameron, 45x31 cm, 1972

Colour engraving by Salvador Dalì, made in 1972 and taken from the Decameron collection, inspired by the text by Giovanni Boccaccio. Specifically, the subject takes up the eighth novella told in the Decameron during the fifth day, the one dedicated to love with a happy ending.

In order to conquer his beloved, Nastagio degli Onesti shows her a supernatural scene that he had witnessed by chance: a knight, who had killed himself for love, is condemned to hunt his cruel wife with his dogs, condemned in turn to be pierced by her husband's sword, in an infinite Dantesque contrapasso. The woman agrees to marry Nastagio in the name of compassionate, requited love.

In this work, Dali depicts the moment when the knight stabs his wife: here the lines are animated and full of pathos.

The work is hand-signed lower right and numbered 101/125 lower left.