Eight Deadly Sins

Salvador Dalí's Eight Mortal Sins | Les Huit Péchés Capitaux, 1966

Published in 1966, the Eight Deadly Sins suite represents one of Salvador Dalí’s most intimate and psychologically piercing graphic explorations of morality. Moving beyond the traditional seven sins, laden with Catholic guilt,  Dalí famously added an eighth, The Dalinian, to critique the vanity of empty intellectualism. Each historically traditional mortal vice is displayed as grotesque interpretations of religious transgression through amorphic figures with visceral supporting imagery featuring Dali’s telltale styling.

This portfolio is executed by the Rigal workshop in the demanding medium of sugar-lift color aquatint, utilizing traditional etching while incorporating the nuance and fluidity of aquatint.  Printed in a relatively small limited edition of 125 and published by Jean Schneider, Basel, these works are celebrated for their deep tonal contrast and the tactile quality of the subtleness of the aquatint. The plates were cancelled after printing, as evidenced by proof prints in the permanent collection of the Salvador Dalí museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. For the discerning collector, this hand-signed original offers a rare intersection between the prestige of the fine art market and the provocative, subverted morality Dalí explores in this suite. By acquiring these works, the collector engages with the very contradictions Dalí sought to highlight, turning the depiction of human vice into a celebrated object of virtue and value