Dutch author Hans Christian Andersen (1805 – 1875) is renowned for publishing more than 150 literary fairy tales. In 1966 Salvador Dalí created 10 illustrations to celebrate some of the tales.
The Girl who Trod on the Loaf was published in 1859. It tells of the story of Ingé, a young girl that places a loaf of bread over a puddle to step on rather than getting her shoes dirty. She then plummets down to hell due to her vanity. After spending many years in hell, Ingé is delivered from evil by the prayers of a virtuous woman. The many fires of hell are depicted by Dalí as flames emanating from receptacles and the girl is shown upside down, being sucked down into the pits of the underworld.