Dags Vidulejs · Contemporary Large-Scale Painting Cycle & Touring Museum Exhibition
DIVINE COMEDY — A Mirror of the 21st Century
Inferno · Purgatorio · Paradiso — A Visual Sociology of Contemporary Civilisation
Developed over several decades, this large-scale oil painting cycle reads Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy not as medieval illustration, but as a social anatomy of 21st-century civilisation. Available as a modular touring exhibition (15, 30, or 50 canvases) for European museums, Kunsthallen, and cultural institutions.
Curatorial Concept
Dante as a Social Anatomy of the 21st Century
One of the rare 21st-century large-scale painting cycles that reads Dante’s Comedy as a social anatomy of contemporary civilisation. Rather than illustrating medieval theology, the paintings use anthropomorphic forms, colour, and rhythm to examine how individuals navigate systems of power, economics, technology, and collective responsibility.
Essential curatorial note: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso are not fixed or stigmatised categories of people; they are structural mechanisms and states of human existence into which any institution or individual may move through ethical and civic choice.
I · Inferno
Mechanics of Coercion & Power
Social structures dominated by coercion, fear, manipulation, conflict, and the unbridled pursuit of power.
II · Purgatorio
Civic Responsibility & Dialogue
The transitional sphere of self-reflection, civic responsibility, cultural labour, and dialogue where transformation becomes possible.
III · Paradiso
Empathy & the Common Good
Communities and forms of consciousness built upon compassion, creative synergy, mutual trust, and the common good.
Selected Works & Museum Installation Views (10)
Large-Scale Oil Paintings in Architectural Space
Central Exhibition Hall — Primum Mobile
Monumental Structures — Anthropomorphic Rhythm
The Ferryman (Charon) — Jūrmala City Museum
Threshold of Purgatorio — Jūrmala City Museum
Inferno: Mechanics of Power and Crowd
Purgatorio: Civic Dialogue and Choice
Paradiso: Architecture of Empathy
People Traffic — Sociology of Human Flows
Spatial Dialogue of the Three Realms
Painterly Texture and Anthropomorphic Code
Exhibition Opening Performance
Beatrice & Dante — Interdisciplinary Opening Format
Each museum presentation can be accompanied by an interdisciplinary opening performance amidst the large-scale canvases, an artist lecture, and a public symposium with local sociologists, philosophers, and literary scholars.
Exhibition Track Record (2020–2026)
3 Public Museum Exhibitions & 10 Art Fair / Urban Venue Presentations
- Jūrmala City Museum (2020): Solo exhibition “Ferryman (Pārcēlājs)” — institutional museum presentation.
- Latvian Railway History Museum (2020–2025): Monumental hall presentations of “Primum Mobile” within Art Riga Fair.
- Divine Comedy Riga Urban Route (2020–2025): Rietumu Bank Exhibition Hall, International Surrealism Biennale, Galleria MC2 / Happy Art Museum, VEF Culture Palace, Digital Art House, Zunda Towers, and Bazar't.
Touring Exhibition Specifications