Christ of Saint John of the Cross

Christ of Saint John of the Cross

Artist	Salvador Dalí
Year	1951
Type	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	205 cm × 116 cm (80.7 in × 45.67 in)
Location	Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow

Christ of Saint John of the Cross is a painting by Salvador Dalí made in 1951. It depicts Jesus Christ on the cross in a darkened sky floating over a body of water complete with a boat and fishermen. Although it is a depiction of the crucifixion, it is devoid of nails, blood, and a crown of thorns, because, according to Dalí, he was convinced by a dream that these features would mar his depiction of Christ. Also in a dream, the importance of depicting Christ in the extreme angle evident in the painting was revealed to him.

1 Title
2 Inspiration
3 Location
4 Spanish offer
5 References

Title

The painting is known as the "Christ of Saint John of the Cross," because its design is based on a drawing by the 16th century Spanish friar Saint John of the Cross. The composition of Christ is also based on a triangle and circle (the triangle is formed by Christ's arms; the circle is formed by Christ's head). The triangle, since it has three sides, can be seen as a reference to the Trinity, and the circle may be an allusion to Platonic thought.^[1]

Inspiration

On the bottom of his studies for the painting, Dalí explained its inspiration: "In the first place, in 1950, I had a 'cosmic dream' in which I saw this image in colour and which in my dream represented the 'nucleus of the atom.' This nucleus later took on a metaphysical sense; I considered it 'the very unity of the universe,' the Christ!"^[2]

Location

The painting and intellectual property rights were acquired by Glasgow Corporation in the early 1950s for £8,200, a price considered high at the time and went on display at the city's Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. In 1961, the canvas was damaged by a visitor to the museum (using a brick) because he objected that the viewpoint of the artist was looking down rather than up on the subject. It has since been successfully restored. In 1993, the painting was moved to the city's St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art, but returned to Kelvingrove for its reopening in July 2006. It won a poll to decide Scotland's favourite painting in 2006, with 29% of the vote.^[3]

Spanish offer

The Spanish government is said to have offered £80 million ($127 million USD) for the painting, but the offer was turned down.^[4]

References

^ Gaultier, Alyse. The Little Book of Dali. Paris: Flammarion, 2004.
^ Descharnes, Robert. Dali. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2003.
^ "Salvador Dali's 'Christ of St John of the Cross' Wins Herald Poll", GlasgowMuseums.com, August 30, 2005.
^ Ross, Peter (July 2, 2006), Palace of dreams — That's how Kelvingrove was described ..., The Herald (Glasgow), http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4156/is_20060702/ai_n16532511

Salvador Dalí

List of works

Selected paintings	Landscape Near Figueras (1910) • Vilabertran (1913) • Fiesta in Figueres (1914–16) • Port of Cadaqués (Night) (1918–19) • The Artist's Father at Llane Beach (1920) • The Garden of Llaner (Cadaqués) (1920–21) • Cabaret Scene (1922) • Cubist Self-Portrait with "La Publicitat" (1923) • Self-portrait with L'Humanitie (1923) • Portrait of Luis Buñuel (1924) • Siphon and Small Bottle of Rum (1924) • The Basket of Bread (1926) • Honey Is Sweeter Than Blood (1927) • The Lugubrious Game (1929) • The First Days of Spring (1929) • The Great Masturbator (1929) • The Persistence of Memory (1931) • The Ghost of Vermeer of Delft Which Can Be Used As a Table (1934) • Morphological Echo (1934–36) • Archaeological Reminiscence of Millet's Angelus (1935) • Autumn Cannibalism (1936) • Soft Construction with Boiled Beans (Premonition of Civil War) (1936) • The Burning Giraffe (1937) • Metamorphosis of Narcissus (1937) • Swans Reflecting Elephants (1937) • Apparition of Face and Fruit Dish on a Beach (1938) • The Sublime Moment (1938) • Shirley Temple, The Youngest, Most Sacred Monster of the Cinema in Her Time (1939) • The Face of War (1940) • Slave Market with the Disappearing Bust of Voltaire (1940) • Honey is Sweeter than Blood (1941) • Geopoliticus Child Watching the Birth of the New Man (1943) • Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening (1944) • Galarina (1944–45) • Basket of Bread (1945) • The Temptation of St. Anthony (1946) • The Elephants (1948) • Leda Atomica (1949) • The Madonna of Port Lligat (1949) • Christ of Saint John of the Cross (1951) • Galatea of the Spheres (1952) • The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory (1952–54) • Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubus) (1954) • Young Virgin Auto-Sodomized by the Horns of Her Own Chastity (1954) • The Sacrament of the Last Supper (1955) • Living Still Life (1956) • The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus (1958–59) • The Ecumenical Council (1959–60) • Galacidalacidesoxyribonucleicacid (1963) • Tuna Fishing (1966–67) • The Hallucinogenic Toreador (1968–70) • La Toile Daligram (1972) • The Swallow's Tail (1983)

Other works	Writings: Un Chien Andalou (1929) • L'Age d'Or (1930) • Giraffes on Horseback Salad (1937) • Libretto for Bacchanale (1939) • The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí (1942, autobiography) Films: Un Chien Andalou (1929) • L'Age d'Or (1930) • Spellbound (1945, dream sequence) • Impressions of Upper Mongolia (1975, narration) Animated films: Destino (1946, completed 2003) Logos: Chupa Chups Opera: Être Dieu (1985) Sculpture: Lobster Telephone (1936) • Mae West Lips Sofa (1937) Costumes: costumes for García Lorca's play Mariana Pineda (1927) Novels: Hidden Faces (1944)

Related articles	Castle of Púbol • Dalí Universe • Espace Dalí • Dalí Theatre and Museum • Salvador Dalí Museum • Salvador Dalí (film) • Little Ashes • Gala Dalí • Paranoiac-critical method