Ecstatic Visions, Purgatory, Divina Dali Exhibit, Brookfield Place, 181 Bay Street, Toronto, ON
Excerpt from the plaque:
Purgatory: When Dante, his guide Virgil and the reader come out of Inferno, they find themselves in front of a mountain: Purgatory*, which was “invented” shortly before Dante wrote La Divina Comedia. It is a place of transition that allows purification, thus improving the human who passes through it. Unlike Inferno, Purgatory Leads to heights and as such promotes intellectual, cultural and spiritual elevation. Dante, Virgil and the reader climb Purgatory like an interior mountain and cross its seven ledges, representative of the seven deadly sins.
This passage through Purgatory allows one to surpass and free oneself from all the deprives the soul of the beauty, richness and order to which it aspires. During his slow progress, Dante sees the fog and clouds that clogged his mind dissipate. He frees himself from confusion and everything becomes clearer and clearer until he reaches the top where Paradise sits. In this sense, Purgatory is an elevation of the mind towards Paradise, because it allows the mind to rid itself of the illusions that keep it in a perpetual waking dream state.
*In the middle of the twelfth century, the “beyond” underwent “a major map reworking”. Between the two traditional places of heaven and hell, the topography was enriched by a third place: purgatory. From the need to imagine a place for the intermediate dead was born purgatory.
Ecstatic Visions, Purgatory, Divina Dali Exhibit, Brookfield Place, 181 Bay Street, Toronto, ON
Excerpt from the plaque:
Purgatory: When Dante, his guide Virgil and the reader come out of Inferno, they find themselves in front of a mountain: Purgatory*, which was “invented” shortly before Dante wrote La Divina Comedia. It is a place of transition that allows purification, thus improving the human who passes through it. Unlike Inferno, Purgatory Leads to heights and as such promotes intellectual, cultural and spiritual elevation. Dante, Virgil and the reader climb Purgatory like an interior mountain and cross its seven ledges, representative of the seven deadly sins.
This passage through Purgatory allows one to surpass and free oneself from all the deprives the soul of the beauty, richness and order to which it aspires. During his slow progress, Dante sees the fog and clouds that clogged his mind dissipate. He frees himself from confusion and everything becomes clearer and clearer until he reaches the top where Paradise sits. In this sense, Purgatory is an elevation of the mind towards Paradise, because it allows the mind to rid itself of the illusions that keep it in a perpetual waking dream state.
*In the middle of the twelfth century, the “beyond” underwent “a major map reworking”. Between the two traditional places of heaven and hell, the topography was enriched by a third place: purgatory. From the need to imagine a place for the intermediate dead was born purgatory.