NEW YORK, NY.- William Bennett Gallery will present in it’s entirety, the five-volume work of Salvador Dali’s Biblia Sacra, featuring the complete 105 original lithographs, published in 1969 by Rizzoli Editions, Milan, Italy, on view from December 11, 2007–January 9, 2008. The William Bennett Gallery is located at 65 Greene Street, between Spring and Broome Street, in the heart of Soho’s gallery district.

Dali’s Biblia Sacra is the largest issued suite of the Spanish artist’s work. The portfolio was commissioned by leading patron Dr. Giuseppe Albaretto, who was determined to redeem what he felt were Dali’s wayward views by leading him back towards the Catholic Church by using the Holy Bible. Subsequently, these exquisite works illustrate Dali’s renewed ties to Christianity as well as his profound personal spirituality.

Six years in the making, the Biblia Sacra contains 105 lithographs within five illustrated volumes of the Bible in Vulgate. The original illustrations were completed between 1963 and 1964, with a combination of gouache, watercolor, ink and pastel and published in 1967. Verses from the Old and New Testament of the Holy Bible accompany each illustration.

The illustrations, fertile in both color and content, exemplify Dali’s range of creativity and artistic process. The wide variety of imagery employed by Dali incorporates both religious and historical images; some Christian and some based on classical mythology. Additionally, Dali’s exploration as an artist is evident in his use of “bulletism,” a Dalinian invention where an arquebus (a type of antique gun) was loaded with ink-filled capsules and then fired at blank sheets of paper. The resulting patterns were then incorporated into the suite’s compositions.

Dali’s illustrations for the bible are among the artist’s finest graphic works. As part of a two-part exhibition, the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, FL is currently showing the final 53 of the 105 lithographs through November 18, 2007.

Also as part of this special presentation, one of the original mixed media illustrations used in the creation of the 105 lithographs will also be featured in the exhibition. Gallery owner Bryan Ledford says “this rare exhibition embodies our commitment to making museum quality works available to our collectors.”