Lot Essay
Salvador Dalí painted the present Madone corpusculaire while he adhered to nuclear mysticism—a theology of his own making that united nuclear theory and Catholicism, with a particular emphasis on the Virgin Mary. Dalí’s upbringing in fervently Catholic Spain, the son of a devout mother, seemed to have had a contrary effect: it made him turn far away from the Church during the first half of his life. A Surrealist, and collaborator of strong anticlerics such as Luis Buñuel, he would have been more likely to revere Sigmund Freud than the Pope. Interestingly, he did in fact meet Pius XII in 1949, three years before painting the present picture, during a visit to Rome. The Pope was interested in contemporary art, and Dalí wanted to discuss one of his renderings of the immaculate conception. As reported in press coverage at the time, this meeting had a profound impact on him. He told a reporter that the Pontiff had shown “great comprehension” and admitted his work has been “frivolous” until now (quoted in “1949: Dalí Visits Pope” in The New York Times, 1949) and marked the beginning of the artist’s exploration of religious iconography, the most famous examples of which is perhaps The Christ of St-John in the collection of the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow.
Nuclear mysticism blended the spirituality of religion with the physicality of science. As pictured here, nuclear physics presuppose a fundamental discontinuity of matter and fragmentation. Dalí translated this into a visual language of parts. The Assumption of Mary is a particularly interesting choice of subject matter, as it describes a transition from the earthly realm into Heaven: what happens to the Virgin and her child’s physical body during this transition? Do they dissolve into molecules or corpuscules, as his title suggests? What could these molecules, or parts, look like? What role does color play in the dissolvement of matter? This highly detailed, delicate jewel of a painting is Dalí’s answer to these metaphysical questions. With the meticulous precision of an Old Master and the renegade spirit of a Surrealist, he transports the viewer to the realm of mysticism, where faith and intellectual curiosity coexist brilliantly through visual art.
Nuclear mysticism blended the spirituality of religion with the physicality of science. As pictured here, nuclear physics presuppose a fundamental discontinuity of matter and fragmentation. Dalí translated this into a visual language of parts. The Assumption of Mary is a particularly interesting choice of subject matter, as it describes a transition from the earthly realm into Heaven: what happens to the Virgin and her child’s physical body during this transition? Do they dissolve into molecules or corpuscules, as his title suggests? What could these molecules, or parts, look like? What role does color play in the dissolvement of matter? This highly detailed, delicate jewel of a painting is Dalí’s answer to these metaphysical questions. With the meticulous precision of an Old Master and the renegade spirit of a Surrealist, he transports the viewer to the realm of mysticism, where faith and intellectual curiosity coexist brilliantly through visual art.