Salvador Dali - walk with me through the fire. Crucifixion as Ascension

I often listen with horror to the tour guides as they tell the groups of tourists in our temple. Often, for example, the image in the altar is called the "Cross of John the Baptist." It is clear that neither a journalist, nor a guide, nor a teacher is required to have an idea of ​​what they are talking about. But I really want to think that for visitors to the temple it is important not only to look at the alien customs and orders of the “church”. Still, the picture is called "Christ of St. John of the Cross."

I tried to correct and translated something for her from Spanish. Dali himself wrote very well about the picture: ... first of all, in 1950, I saw a "cosmic dream" in which this picture appeared to me in color and which in my dream was the "nucleus of the atom". This core then acquired a metaphysical meaning, and I considered it as the main component of the Universe - Christ! Secondly, when, thanks to the instructions of Father Bruno, the Carmelite, I saw a drawing of Christ drawn by Saint John of the Cross, I developed a geometric triangle and a circle in which all my previous experiences were "aesthetically" summarized, and I inserted my drawing of Christ into this triangle. Initially, I did not want to depict all the attributes of the crucifixion - nails, crown of thorns, etc. .- and turn the blood into red carnations in the arms and legs, with three jasmine flowers dipped into the wound on the side. But only until the end my decision changed the second vision, perhaps because of the Spanish proverb that says: "little Christ, too much blood." In this second dream, I saw a picture without anecdotal attributes: only the metaphysical beauty of Christ God. … My aesthetic ambition is that the canvas is the opposite of all images of Christ made by contemporary artists who have applied an expressionist manner, evoking emotions through ugliness. My main task is to depict the beauty of Christ as God, in what He personifies.

These words allow us to understand something else - how different Dali is from the caricature character that he appears to us from the words of other guides. Everyone who has been to Figueres, Pubol, Dali museums knows this classic chewing gum. At first, the most important fact of Dali's biography is presented as the fact that he was married to a Russian. Then the biography of Gala's parents and her childhood full of misfortunes are described in detail. Then the guide moves on to the obscene details of their family life, and then talks about Dali's outrageous antics and market prices for prints of his engravings. When in the basement of the theater-museum in Figueres I tried to make out the Medusa, fantastically clearly drawn, even then this image of a clown seemed doubtful to me. And there is. The painting “Christ of St. John of the Cross” is a clear result of the work of a philosopher, a theologian, if you like.

Another thing that this picture allows you to pay attention to is the personality of St. John of the Cross, no, of course, not a baptist, but St. Juan De La Cruz, the great Spanish mystic, Theologian of the Dark Night. It is her, the Dark Night, that Dali depicts in the upper part of the canvas. The absence of other people in the picture, that is, as if the absence of emotions in it, corresponds to the idea of ​​St. John. Perhaps our emotions somehow correspond to our lusts. I love it = I crave it. I don't like it = I long for the death of it. Lack of emotions, "dryness" St. John considered a sure sign of the path of the soul to climb the Mountain in the Dark Night. The thirst for God, probably, should really be super-sensual, super-emotional. That is, we do not like to breathe or we do not like to drink. We cannot exist without it. John does not write that one cannot exist without God, as without air, that would be too simple. He writes about the path of the soul that has lost the emotional component of closeness to Him (as having lost the need), but has not yet learned to use the spiritual, direct contemplation of Him. About the Bride who is looking for the Bridegroom in the night. She is not happy to be in the void of the Night. She is not driven by romantic feelings or lustful impulses. She understands that she cannot exist otherwise than to seek, to crave with her being. Her only feeling is longing, thirst, but not lust.

Despite the fact that many of Dali's paintings are provocative, experimental in nature, in this work the author tried to embody a deep religious and mystical meaning. The painting by Salvador Dali was inspired by a drawing made by Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591), who depicted his ecstatic vision of the Crucifixion from above, as if through the eyes of the Father. The cross in this drawing acts as a bridge between God the Father and the mortal world depicted at the bottom of the picture. Dali claimed that he, like John of the Cross, was visited by two ecstatic visions, in which the idea for this work was formed. Salvador Dali himself explained the idea of ​​​​this picture as follows:

... first of all, in 1950, I saw a "cosmic dream" in which this picture appeared to me in color and which in my dream was the "nucleus of the atom". This core then acquired a metaphysical meaning, and I considered it as the main component of the Universe - Christ! Secondly, when, thanks to the instructions of Father Bruno, the Carmelite, I saw a drawing of Christ drawn by Saint John of the Cross, I developed a geometric triangle and a circle in which all my previous experiences were "aesthetically" summarized, and I inserted my drawing of Christ into this triangle. Initially, I did not want to depict all the attributes of the crucifixion - nails, a crown of thorns, etc. .- and turn the blood into red carnations in the arms and legs, with three jasmine flowers dipped into the wound on the side. But only until the end my decision changed the second vision, perhaps because of the Spanish proverb that says: "little Christ, too much blood." In this second dream, I saw a picture without anecdotal attributes: only the metaphysical beauty of Christ God. ... My aesthetic ambition is that the canvas is opposed to all depictions of Christ made by modern artists who have applied an expressionist manner, evoking emotion through ugliness. My main task is to depict the beauty of Christ as God, in what He personifies.

Story

The artist was so serious about the completion of this work that he did not want to leave the first draft. In order for the paint in this picture to dry on time, Dali installed central heating in the house in Port Ligate. In 1961, a mentally ill visitor tore the bottom of the canvas by throwing a brick at it, but the painting was successfully restored. During the closure of the Kelvingrow Museum (1993-2006), the painting was in the Museum of Religious Life and Art of St. Mungo. In 2006, she won 29% of the votes in the competition for the most beloved pictures of Scotland. The Spanish government offered $127 million for this painting, but the offer was rejected.

Artistic techniques

There are two different perspectives in the picture, exactly converging at the point of vanishing perspective. The bottom of the picture is executed in a traditionalist manner. This fragment of the painting is inspired by the work of Le Nain and Velasquez.

Liturgical meaning

Despite the non-canonical depiction of the Passion of Christ, a fresco copy of the painting is in the altar of the Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Samara.

Links

Salvador Dali (list of works)
Favorites paintings	Landscape near Figueres Holiday in Figueres Garden in Liane Dreams of night walks Cubist self-portrait Portrait of Luis Bunuel A bottle of rum with a siphon Honey is sweeter than blood (study) grim game First days of spring great masturbator The Persistence of Memory morning fantasies The ghost of Vermeer of Delft, capable of serving as a table Mae West face Morphological echo Archaeological echo of "Angelus" by Millais autumn cannibalism Boiled Bean Soft Construction (Civil War Premonition) giraffe on fire Metamorphoses of Narcissus Dream Swans reflected in elephants Appearance of a face and a bowl of fruit on the seashore high instant The face of war Slave market with the appearance of the invisible bust of Voltaire Honey is sweeter than blood Dream caused by the flight of a bee around a pomegranate a second before awakening Galarina Basket with bread Temptation of Saint Anthony elephants Atomic Leda Madonna of Port Lligata (first version) Christ of Saint John of the Cross Galatea with spheres Disintegration of memory persistence Crucifix or Hypercubic Body Sodomy self-gratification of an innocent maiden The Last Supper Living still life Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus tuna fishing hallucinogenic bullfighter Dovetail
sculptures
Other jobs
Museums
Other

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010 .

See what "Christ of St. John of the Cross" is in other dictionaries:

This term has other meanings, see Church of St. John. The Church of St. John in the city of Cēsis is the largest in Latvia among ... Wikipedia

JOHN THE APOSTLE MONASTERY ON PATHMOS- [Greek. ῾Ιερὰ Μονὴ ῾Αγίου ᾿Ιωάννου τοῦ Θεολόγου τῆς Πάτμου], imp., patriarchal, stauropegial, male, cenobitic, under the jurisdiction of the K. Polish Patriarchy Historical sketch of Mont ap. John the Theologian on Patmos Mont ap. John... ... Orthodox Encyclopedia

JOHN LAMPADISTA MONASTERY- [Greek. ῾Ιερὰ Μονὴ ῾Αγίου ᾿Ιωάννη τοῦ Λαμπαδιστῆ], is located in the village. Kalopanayotis, 60 km from Nicosia, in the Marathas Valley, lying between the Troodos mountain ranges (Cyprus). In the old days, the valley was called Mirianfusa, that is, "covered with tens of thousands of flowers." ... ... Orthodox Encyclopedia

JOHN'S ACTS- [Greek. Πράξεις τοῦ ἁγίου ἀποστόλου κα εὐαγγελιστοῦ ᾿Ιωάννου τοῦ Θεολόγου; lat. Acta Joannis], early Christ. Apocrypha describing the service of St. and Evangelist John the Theologian, one of the oldest monuments of Christian literature. Authorship and ... ... Orthodox Encyclopedia

Juan de la Cruz ... Wikipedia

St. John of the Cross St. John of the Cross (also known as St. Juan de la Cruz and St. John of the Cross, Spanish Juan de la Cruz); (June 24, 1542, Ontiveros, Spain December 14, 1591, Ubeda (Úbeda), Jaen, Spain), real name Juan de Yepes Alvarez (Spanish ... Wikipedia

This article is about the various views on the form of the execution instrument used to crucifix Jesus Christ. For the relic, see Life-Giving Cross. The shape of the cross of Jesus Christ is a debatable issue for a number of secular historians and philologists, but ... ... Wikipedia

Basilica Basilica of Saint Clement Basilica di San Clemente ... Wikipedia

Peter Paul Rubens Descent from the Cross, 1612 Kruisafneming Oil on wood. 420.5 × 320 cm Cathedral of Our Lady of Antwerp, Antwerp ... Wikipedia

JESUS ​​CHRIST- [Greek. ᾿Ιησοῦς Χριστός], the Son of God, God manifested in the flesh (1 Tim 3:16), who took upon Himself the sin of man, and through His sacrificial death made his salvation possible. In the NT He is called Christ or Messiah (Χριστός, Μεσσίας), Son (υἱός), Son… … Orthodox Encyclopedia

Books

• Life and akathist to the holy apostle and evangelist John the Theologian, Having chosen John among the twelve apostles, the Lord called him the son of thunder, the Theologian, because theology, like thunder, should have announced the Universe. For meekness and purity, John ... Category:

The main shocker of his time, a provocateur and a noble hooligan from art, who glorified his name for centuries ... It would seem that this person consists of continuous contradictions and antics! He loved to walk with an anteater through the streets of European capitals, gorged himself on lollipops, wore an incredible mustache, and all his life adored one woman - Russian by origin - who was 11 years older than him.

Salvador Dali is that rare case when genius is spoken of publicly during his lifetime. He devoted himself to art, he could create only by completely surrendering to the process. "The Crucifixion, or the Hypercubic Body" is one of his most famous paintings.

The Biblical Theme in Dali's Works

Salvador Dali in his work more than once resorted to biblical subjects. Moreover, he created a whole series of illustrations for the exclusive edition of the Bible. He was blessed by the Pope himself to write 105 works.

The painting "The Crucifixion, or the Hypercubic Body" is made in the traditional manner for Dali. The characters are written with photographic accuracy. The plot of the picture is not an attempt to illustrate the biblical legend, but rather his own interpretation, in which the author, as usual, tries to connect the existing reality with others: fictional, fantastic or quite possible.

hypercube

The first thing that attracts the attention of the contemplative picture is the cross on which Christ hangs. The fact is that this is not a cross at all, but a development of a hypercube, otherwise called a tasseract. This is not just a game of genius with form and space, but a completely clear message from the artist, symbolizing the sad truth that Jesus was crucified because of coldness and callousness.

Image of Christ

No less important is the posture of the crucified Jesus. While working on the painting “The Crucifixion, or the Hypercubic Body”, Salvador Dali was able to give the figure of Christ such a position that the viewer freezes looking at him. Tension emanates from the appearance, and the sufferings of Christ are very strongly felt. His tortured posture, protruding chest, face turned away from the viewer - everything speaks of the torment he is experiencing.

Unchanging Gala

Dali's eternal muse and love of life - Gala - is also present in the painting "The Crucifixion, or the Hypercubic Body". She stands in the left corner, and Christ appears before her eyes. Gala does not look away, but contemplates Him, frozen in a respectful half-bow. Her figure is dressed in draperies, as if before us is a wanderer.

History of the painting

Dali wrote The Crucifixion, or the Hypercubic Body in 1954. In parallel with the work on the picture, he kept a diary. Researchers of his work say that he rarely described the progress of work in such detail.

The dimensions of the painting are quite impressive: the height is 194.5 cm and the width is 124 cm.

The painting is currently in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.

"Christ of Saint John of the Cross" - a painting by the Spanish artist Salvador Dali, written in Catalonia (Spain) in 1950-1952.

Art form, genre.

Painting. The painting was painted in the style of "Catholic" surrealism.

Plot.

In this work, as in many of his works, the author tried to convey a deep philosophical and religious meaning. The cross against the background of dark, gloomy space symbolizes the bridge between God and the mortal world, which is depicted at the bottom of the picture. The fishing boat, the sea and the bright sky on the horizon symbolize enlightenment, a call to begin the path to a better life through God. Christ, as the pointer of the true path, suffers for the sake of all mankind. The reddish sky, as a symbol of insight, a “spiritual spark”, acts as a transitional state between worldly life and communion with God, a state of complete harmony of mind and body, and symbolizes a moment on the life path, after which a person divides it into “before” and “after” ". The triangle that forms the hands of Christ in the picture is traditionally considered an allusion to the image of the Holy Trinity, the head of Christ forms the center of this triangle. The triangle is directed with an arrow from top to bottom, which personifies the sacrifice directed from God to humanity.

Idea.

The author reveals the idea of ​​the painting with the following words: “My idea is that the canvas is the opposite of all the images of Christ made by contemporary artists who have applied an expressionist manner, evoking emotions through ugliness. My main task is to depict the beauty of Christ as God, in what He personifies.

Brief information about the author.

Salvador Dali (1904-1989) is one of the best known and most controversial Artists of the 20th century. He told a lot about himself in his books Secret Life, Diary of a Genius. He painted his first full-fledged picture at the age of 10, and his first solo exhibition opened when the artist was 21 years old. By this time he became a student at the Madrid Art Academy. In 1928, Dali, having arrived in Paris, met the surrealists and joined them. One of his favorite techniques in painting was the transformation, the metamorphosis of things and objects. Dali to this day remains an artist whose name personifies surrealism.

expressive means.

There are two different perspectives in the picture, exactly converging at the point of vanishing perspective. The bottom of the picture is executed in a traditionalist manner. This piece of the painting is inspired by the work of Le Nain and Velazquez.

Connection of the work with the era.

The picture was painted in the post-war period in Spain, when the idea of ​​"national accord" and the peaceful replacement of the dictatorial regime more and more deeply penetrated into the consciousness of wide sections of the Spanish people. We can say that the picture acts as an incentive for spiritual growth and self-awareness.

Unfortunately, it looks like the search requests sent from your IP address are automated. Therefore, weʼve had to temporarily block your access to Yandex Search.

To continue searching, please enter the characters from the picture below and click "Continue".

Cookies are disabled in your browser. This means that Yandex will not be able to remember you in the future. If youʼre not sure about how to enable cookies, please refer to our .

Why did this happen?

Itʼs possible that these automated requests were sent from another user on your network. If this is the case, you'll just need to enter the CAPTCHA code once, and we'll be able to distinguish between you and the other users on your IP address. Then you shouldnʼt be bothered by this page for a long time.

You could be submitting a large number of automated requests to our search engine. Weʼve developed a service called that has been specially designed to handle such requests.

Your browser may also contain add-ons that send automated requests to our search engine. If this is the case, we recommend disabling these add-ons.

It's also possible that your computer has been infected with a Spambot virus that's using your computer to gather information. It might be worth checking your computer for viruses with an antivirus utility such as CureIt from "Dr.Web".

If you come across any problems or wish to ask a question, please do not hesitate to contact our Support service using the .