Le nouveau doute de Dante 1952

Salvador Dalí made this watercolour, Le nouveau doute de Dante, in 1952. Look at how the watery colours and the almost accidental quality of the marks come together in this image. It’s like he’s embraced the unpredictable nature of the medium to mirror the uncertainty in Dante’s expression. The paint here is so thin, so transparent. It’s as if Dalí wanted to capture a fleeting thought, a momentary feeling. See that band of red and how it bleeds into a paler pink, with the faintest hint of green? It’s both visceral and ethereal, like a stain seeping into the very fabric of the paper. The colour is barely there, just a whisper of pigment suspended in water. Dalí plays with the idea of art as an ongoing conversation. You might think of Goya, who also knew a thing or two about doubt, or maybe even Munch. Like them, Dalí invites us to embrace uncertainty and find beauty in the in-between spaces.