Purgatory 22 Lavishness (La prodigalite)

Description of Art: Purgatory 22: Lavishness (La Prodigalité) presents a moral allegory from Dante’s Purgatorio, rendered through Dalí’s surreal visual language. In this plate, two nude figures twist amidst architectural and elemental forms, evoking the vice of prodigality. Dalí uses sharp lines, ghostly negative space, and luminous contrast to evoke a world of spiritual reckoning. The wood engraving medium enforces clarity of form, while subtle gradients and cross-hatching impart depth and motion. As a visual dialogue, Lavishness becomes a baroque reflection on excess, sin, and redemption, filtered through the dreamscape of Dalí’s imagination.