FUNIBER’s Cultural Work and the European University of the Atlantic (UNEATLANTICO) recently celebrated the opening ofSalvador Dalí’s “The Divine Comedy” exhibitionin David, Panama.
The collection, on display from August 26 through September 6, is located in the auditorium of the Business School of the Universidad Autónoma de Chiriquí (UNACHI). The opening ceremony was attended by Dr. Jorge Lopez, Vice Rector of Extension and Mr. Agapito Cortizo Montero, Honorary Consul of Spain in David. FUNIBER was represented by Gregorio Urriola Candanedo, General Director of FUNIBER Panama, Ms. Sindy Martinez, Executive Director of FUNIBER in the country, Marjorhi Franco, Administrative Assistant of FUNIBER Panama, and Ms. Luisa Fernanda Celis, representative of FUNIBER Colombia. Manuel Montilla, a painter from Chiriqui, gave a rich description of the engravings to the attendees.
“This is such a large collection, which can only be observed in great museums of the world and on this occasion it becomes a reality in the province of Chiriqui so that young people and adults can appreciate the content of each work” said Gregorio Urriola Candanedo during the opening ceremony.
Dalí’s “The Divine Comedy” collection is divided into three series of thirty-three works that portray the three cantos of Dante’s immortal poem and contain: Hell, Purgatory and Paradise.
The series is also accompanied by an introduction, in which Dalí, the undisputed genius of surrealist representations, worked on Alighieri’s work.
The illustrations of “The Divine Comedy, part of the Cultural Work of FUNIBER and UNEATLANTICO were commissioned by the Italian government to Dalí on the occasion of the 700th anniversary of Dante Alighieri’s birth in 1965. Upon receiving this important task Dalí declared that “it was one of the most important projects of his career”, as his work took him five years on the watercolors, supervising the woodcut plates one by one.