Christ of Saint John of the Cross
Artist: Salvatore Dali
1951
Painting
Salvatore Dali’s Christ of Saint John of the Cross came out of a dream where he saw Christ’s crucifixion from God’s perspective. There are no wounds, thorns or agony present. The scene at the bottom of the image featuring a moored boat and still water adds to this image’s feeling of tranquility and peace. As God watches the crucifixion unfold, there is a sense of silence and wonder of God’s salvific handiwork being manifested.
This Surrealist painting is housed in the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow, Scotland
Christ of St John of the Cross
Artist: Salvador Dali
1951
Painting
The notorious Spanish Surrealist painter Salvador Dalí (1904–1989) created Christ of St John of the Cross in 1951. In Dalí's unusual depiction, Christ floats over a darkened sky, reflected by a shore beneath in which a fishing boat is moored. The birds-eye perspective and composition were influenced by a drawing by Spanish mystic John of the Cross (1542–1591) who sketched Christ after claiming he saw the crucifixion in a mystical vision.
Similarly, Dalí claimed he was inspired to paint this unusual depiction of Christ after experiencing a 'cosmic dream'. By the 1940s, Dalí began to return to his religious roots, though previously he had turned away from Catholicism.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287