Dalí's Fusion of Nuclear Physics and Religious Iconography

    Salvador Dalí was the epitome of surrealism. His melting clocks, deformed fleshy blobs, and stilt legged horses are things that can only be formed in his otherworldly imagination to describe the inner workings of his fascinating mind. While Dalí was a surrealist painter his whole career, many of his interests shifted over time. His surrealist roots stayed, but his interest in modern science manifested itself in some of his art, in a way that hadn’t been seen before.

     With the dawn of the atomic bomb in World War II, Dalí became fascinated with nuclear physics. He said he was “shook…seismically” (Taylor 1), and that it became his “favorite food for thought” (Taylor 1-2). This was directly manifested in his erie 1945 painting, Melancholy Atomic and Uranic Idyll. From this point on he continues to implement symbolism of nuclear physics in his paintings, whether through dream-like images that point to the event, or the physical representation of antimatter we see in Madonna.

    The question I am asking is this: How did Dali's interest in nuclear physics contribute to his creation of this painting and how does that concept relate to the historical christian theme of the Madonna and Child? Dalí was Catholic, but his views on religion and specifically christianity were slightly out of left field. Why is the concept of Nuclear physics brought up in his other paintings with clear religious ties like The Sacrament of the Last Supper and The Madonna of Port Lligat? Dalí’s fascination with nuclear physics led him to redefine modern art through religious iconography.

Harold Edgerton, Atomic Bomb Explosion, 1946-52

Gelatin Silver Print, 9 x 11 7/16 in.

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Not on View, Accession Number: 1997.62.39

    Edgerton’s terrifying photograph of the first milliseconds of an atomic explosion shows us the catalyst in an event of change. Edgerton’s photograph is not from a weapon used in warfare, but from a post-war test. Matter is being torn open and blown apart, but also frozen in time by the photographer. This concept is critical to Dalí. He uses it as a parallel for the spiritual shift in the mother of Christ as she carries the son of God in her womb. Both are the very beginning of massive and world-changing events.

Salvador Dalí, Melancholy Atomic and Uranic Idyll, 1945

Oil Painting on Canvas, 26.5 x 34.6 in.

Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía

    Dalí loved to convey meaning through images that we as the viewer can associate with our lived experiences and also the links between that and our imagination. Painted right on the heels of World War II, Melancholy Atomic and Uranic Idyll is the first painting that begins to show us Dalí’s symbolic way of conveying the immense impact of the atomic bomb to his viewer. In Michael Taylor’s, “God and the Atom: Salvador Dalí’s Mystical Manifesto and the Contested Origins of Nuclear Painting”, he writes, “The awesome destructive power of the atomic bomb is not conveyed through the familiar symbol of the mushroom cloud, but rather through an accumulation of associative images, ranging from a stylized fireball-like explosion to American baseball players, warplanes, and elephants with insect-like legs, all of whom hit, drop or release deadly egg-shaped bombs” (Taylor 2).

Duccio di Buoninsegna, Madonna and Child, 1290-1300

Tempera and Gold on Wood, 11 x 8 1/4 in

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Gallery 635, Accession Number: 2004.442

    In the late 13th century Duccio created his Madonna and Child, a much more traditional depiction of the motif than in Dalí’s Madonna. Similar to Dalí, Duccio puts emphasis on both figures, but here they are facing each other. While Duccio’s Madonna and Child is more traditional, it also has some interesting qualities. The baby christ has a face that looks much older than he actually is, and the mother’s gaze is almost unfocused, gazing off into the distance. Historical depictions of the Madonna and Child like Duccio’s would’ve been in Dalí’s archive as he created his Madonna.

Salvador Dalí, Madonna of Port Lligat, 1949

Oil Painting on Canvas, 191⁄4 in × 143⁄4 i in.

Haggerty Museum of Art

    Dalí said he was painting in “constant explosion” when he created the Madonna of Port Lligat. Here we see the concept of Nuclear Mysticism that Dalí developed through his interest in the connection between nuclear physics and religion. The portrayal of the infant Christ in the womb while the Madonna is praying is a spiritual transformation that Dalí uses as a parallel for the material transformation caused by the atomic bomb. The painting’s bit-piece appearance also mirrors an explosion.

Salvador Dalí, The Sacrament of The Last Supper, 1955

Oil Painting on Canvas, 65 5/8 x 105 1/8 in.

National Gallery of Art

    Once again Dalí has made the setting for a religious painting near his home in Port Lligat, Similar to the way Da Vinci sets his Last Supper painting in an Italian villa. Many critics of the time classified the work as garbage, and were put off by Dalí’s depiction of Christ. This shows Dalí’s break from tradition, crafted a clean shaved and almost cocky looking figure of Jesus, which enraged many scholars. Dalí draws from Plato’s claim that the dodecahedron shape “characterized the structure of the universe” (Allen 77). The Sacrament of The Last Supper shows that Dalí was not only drawing from historical religious iconography, but also combining it with modern scientific facts.

Salvador Dalí, Madonna, 1958

Oil Painting on canvas, 88 7/8 × 75 1/4 in.

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Gallery 920, Accession Number: 1987.465

    Finally we end up at Dalí’s Madonna, or his Sistine Madonna as it is often called. The painting is painted in three distinct layers, and looks radically different from different distances. From less than a couple feet the painting is a complete abstraction, from 6 feet you see the Madonna and Child, and from over 20 you see the large human ear. “The disintegration of the surface and the subjects into rows of pulsating dots arose from Dalí’s interest in nuclear physics in the late 1950’s. The technique is actually a visualization of the concept of antimatter” (Holt 62) In this painting Dalí’s interest in nuclear physics and religious iconography culminate into one object, the different images literally sharing the same material.