Canto III 1 #124

Now well known as an art critic based in New York, Saltz dropped out of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago to cofound N.A.M.E. Gallery—for years one of Chicago’s most important noncommercial spaces—in 1973. This triptych was inspired by Canto III of Dante Alighieri’s epic poem the Divine Comedy, which takes place in Hell. Though Saltz clearly demonstrated talent, he succumbed to self-doubt and took a hiatus from creating art, working as a truck driver hauling art over long distances (which gave him plenty of time to develop his critical thinking skills).