The Tree 

Here we see Dore’s vision, in ink, of the tree from Dante’s Purgatorio. This is no ordinary tree, but a powerful symbol, a visual echo resonating through centuries of human experience. At its base, souls reach upwards, a gesture we've seen repeated across cultures – from ancient Egyptian prayers to the raised hands in Christian iconography. These supplicants, with arms extended, seek solace or redemption. Consider how this motif reappears in religious contexts across time, evolving from pagan rituals to modern expressions of faith, each iteration subtly altered by its cultural landscape. The tree itself, laden with fruit, perhaps, recalls the Tree of Knowledge, or the Golden Apple tree of the Hesperides, symbols of wisdom, temptation, and the cyclical nature of life. Here it merges the divine with the earthly, a visual bridge between worlds. We unconsciously recognise the complex history of the symbol, and it engages with our psyche, offering not answers, but a space to contemplate the cyclical, eternal nature of existence.