Dalí's Orginal Aquatint Etching, Sloth, from Les Huit Péchés Capitaux
Dali's representation of Sloth from the acclaimed 1966 Eight Deadly Sins suite depicts more than just one of Catholicism's seven Cardinal vices, it gives visual language describing physical laziness and the psychological weight of spiritual and intellectual inertia. Through the sugar-lift aquatint technique, Salvador Dalí and the master printers at the Rigal print house are able to express in more than just simple lines as a figure, enveloped in his own lethargy the subject appears to be collapsing under its own lack of will as the human form becomes a landscape of melting lines and surrealist void. Sloth becomes a heavy parasitic force that drains the vitality from the subject.
Printed on Rives paper as one of eight in a limited edition of 125 suites, Eight Deadly Sins, or Les Huit Péchés Capitaux, serves as a profound meditation on the human condition and the pervasive influence of the Catholic Church on one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. Prints from the cancelled plates are in the permanent collection of the Salvador Dalí museum in St. Petersburg, Fl.
- Medium: Etching with Aquatint in color
- Edition: 70/125
- Signature: Hand Signed
- Image Size: 5½" x 7¼"
- Page Size: 12" x 17½"
- Paper Type: Rives
- Engraver: Salvador Dalí
- Printer: Ateliers Rigal, à Fontenay aux Roses
- Reference: Field 66-3 G; Michler & Lopsinger 162