This epic series, begun in Pont-Aven in France in 2002, mirrors Dante’s journey of three phases – Hell, Purgatory and Paradise. Walsh’s interpretation of the first book of The Divine Comedy; The Inferno, comprises 34 paintings relating to the book’s 34 Cantos, The Purgatorio inspired seven Cornice paintings, each relating to the journey that Dante and Virgil make as they ascend Purgatory and visit the seven cornices that parallel the seven deadly sins. The series is completed by one large, multi-part painting based on the Paradiso, the third and final book of the Divine Comedy, where Dante visits Paradise.
This series, which has grown from a fascination with Dante’s Inferno, was initially due to follow Walsh’s previous work practice and take abstract form. Feeling his language of expression, in the form of abstraction, did not lend itself to compose symbolic ideas of things and people; Walsh adopted a new bold representational approach to this body of work.
The exhibition is accompanied by a full catalogue publication.
