Lot 239 D

The present work was created as a study for the large format oil painting "Corpus Hypercubus (Crucifixion)" (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) which was completed in the same year. The work shows Christ on the Cross, observed by Dalís' wife Gala (see comparative illus.). In this detail study, the artist has concentrated on the depiction of the traditional, shortish loincloth, while only suggesting a detail of the body of Christ. The whitish cloth is loosely tied around Christ's waist cord, and its finely modelled drapery is arranged so as to cover only the pubic region.
Since the 1950s, Dalí had concentrated more and more on the subjects of religion and mysticism. In his Mystical Manifesto of 1951, Dalí wrote: "Nothing more subversive can happen to an Ex-Surrealist in 1951 than for him to become mystical and to learn to draw. […] Use the painting techniques of the Renaissance, as this was the period which established for all times the pictorial methods with the highest visual impact. The decadence of modern painting arises from scepticism and lack of faith. […] I want my next image of Christ to contain more beauty and joy than any work created before it. […] A new era of mystical painting has begun with me." (Robert Descharnes/Gilles Néret. Salvador Dalí 1904 - 1989. Das malerische Werk, vol. II, Cologne 1993, p. 456 ff.)