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Ultramarine-corpuscular Ascension of the virgin
Salvador Dali • Painting, 1952, 225×92 cm
Description of the artwork «Ultramarine-corpuscular Ascension of the virgin»
A painting with a difficult to pronounce name "Ultramarine-corpuscular Ascension of the Mother of God" helps us understand what was in the mind of 48-year-old Dali when he wrote this impressive but strange masterpiece of "nuclear mysticism" in 1952.
At this time, Dali was deeply immersed in his new "atomic" period. The artist proclaimed that he was “becoming classic” and moving away from surrealism to a new vision, a new style in painting - the fusion of science, religion and mathematics. "Ascension ..." is an excellent example of the flowering of this page in the consciousness and creativity of the master.
The large-scale canvas brings together a number of interests, beliefs and obsessions of the painter - and above all his admiration for his wife and muse Gala. She is represented here in the form of the Virgin Mary, whose body stretched in ascension resembles works El Greco or maybe some pictures Bartolome Murillo.
The sphere from which Gala rises symbolizes both the Earth and the atom. The latter is a reference to modern discoveries in particle physics that fascinated Dali, and an explanation of the atomic / horn-like particles indicated in the title of the work.
The center of the picture is a magnificently painted Eucharistic table, above which is the figure of the crucified Christ. This image was transferred here from the most famous religious painting by Dali - "Christ of Saint John of the Cross"completed a year earlier. A Hollywood acrobat and stunt performer Russell Saunders posed for the figure. The artist hung it from a special frame in his studio to see how the body looks at the right angle and how gravity affects it.
The picture is framed by arrays of swirling rhino horns. They are so heavy that, according to Reynolds Morse, the main patron of Dali, they damage the beauty of this work. But no one could tell Salvador Dali how and what to draw! And, perhaps, this work would not have had the same impact, the same “shocking” value, the same Salvadorian dynamism, if not for the eddies of rhino horns.
Dali saw this painting as an interpretation of the philosopher Nietzsche's idea of natural force. Although here Gala is presented as a "superwoman", ascending to heaven thanks to her own inner strength. In a later explanation of the work, Dali wrote that it was lifted up by the "angels of antimatter." The picture can be interpreted as the decaying or uniting body of Gala.
Talking about a painting, one cannot ignore the artist's technique. First of all, this is a portrait of his wife - one of the best in Dali. It is stunningly realistic, and it creates a dramatic contrast to the unearthly, translucent and spiritual essence that runs down from the shoulders and prayerfully folded hands. Gala-Madonna's palms form a triangle, which repeats the figure of Christ below.
In Ultramarine-Corpuscular Ascension, elements similar to "Exploding Raphael Head"which was written a year earlier. In particular, it is the dome of the Roman Pantheon and the vortexes of horn-like fragments.
At this time, Dali was deeply immersed in his new "atomic" period. The artist proclaimed that he was “becoming classic” and moving away from surrealism to a new vision, a new style in painting - the fusion of science, religion and mathematics. "Ascension ..." is an excellent example of the flowering of this page in the consciousness and creativity of the master.
The large-scale canvas brings together a number of interests, beliefs and obsessions of the painter - and above all his admiration for his wife and muse Gala. She is represented here in the form of the Virgin Mary, whose body stretched in ascension resembles works El Greco or maybe some pictures Bartolome Murillo.
The sphere from which Gala rises symbolizes both the Earth and the atom. The latter is a reference to modern discoveries in particle physics that fascinated Dali, and an explanation of the atomic / horn-like particles indicated in the title of the work.
The center of the picture is a magnificently painted Eucharistic table, above which is the figure of the crucified Christ. This image was transferred here from the most famous religious painting by Dali - "Christ of Saint John of the Cross"completed a year earlier. A Hollywood acrobat and stunt performer Russell Saunders posed for the figure. The artist hung it from a special frame in his studio to see how the body looks at the right angle and how gravity affects it.
The picture is framed by arrays of swirling rhino horns. They are so heavy that, according to Reynolds Morse, the main patron of Dali, they damage the beauty of this work. But no one could tell Salvador Dali how and what to draw! And, perhaps, this work would not have had the same impact, the same “shocking” value, the same Salvadorian dynamism, if not for the eddies of rhino horns.
Dali saw this painting as an interpretation of the philosopher Nietzsche's idea of natural force. Although here Gala is presented as a "superwoman", ascending to heaven thanks to her own inner strength. In a later explanation of the work, Dali wrote that it was lifted up by the "angels of antimatter." The picture can be interpreted as the decaying or uniting body of Gala.
Talking about a painting, one cannot ignore the artist's technique. First of all, this is a portrait of his wife - one of the best in Dali. It is stunningly realistic, and it creates a dramatic contrast to the unearthly, translucent and spiritual essence that runs down from the shoulders and prayerfully folded hands. Gala-Madonna's palms form a triangle, which repeats the figure of Christ below.
In Ultramarine-Corpuscular Ascension, elements similar to "Exploding Raphael Head"which was written a year earlier. In particular, it is the dome of the Roman Pantheon and the vortexes of horn-like fragments.
