NAVIGATION
ALL ARTISTS
Crucifixion
(Corpus Hypercubus) (Corpus Hypercubus ou Crucifixion) 1954, by Salvador
Dali, Oil on canvas 194.5 x 124cm Metropolitan Musuem of
Art New York. Dali called this painting "Metaphysical, transcendent
cubism, it is based entirely on the Treatise on Cubic Form by Juan de
Herrera, Philip the 2nd's architect, builder of the Escorial Palace: it
is a treatise inspired by Ars Magna of the Catalonian philosopher and
alchemist Raymond Lulle. The cross is formed by an octahedral hypercube.
The number nine is identifiable and becomes especially consubstantial
with the body of Christ. The extremely noble figure of Gala is the perfect
union of the develpment of the hypercubic octahedron on the human level
of the cube. She is depicted in front of the Bay of Port Lligat. The most
noble beings were painted by Velazques and Zurbaran; I only approach nobility
while painting Gala, and noblity can only be insired by the human being."
Dali had abandoned his Atheism in favor of the religion of his birth and
baptism Catholicism. Combining this with his beliefs in so-called "nuclear
mysticism" he created painting such as the Hypercubus. Christ is
suspended on an eight sided dodecahedron - an octahedral hypercube or
a cube in the fourth dimension. Dali's critics often stated that his use
of these mathmatical symbols as "visual opportunism" and that
the artist knew nothing of the meanings and mathmatical principles behind
them. Thomas Banchoff a Brown professor who did pioneering work using
computer graphics to illustrate geometry beyond the third dimension in
the 1970's insists that this assumption about Dali is untrue. "Dali
wanted to be treated seriously by scientists," Banchoff said of the
artist. "He knew what he was talking about he was not just using
the symbols." Banchoff and Dali became friends after a 1975 article
in the Washington Post about Banchoff's work caught Dali's eye. Banchoff
stated that Dali had specific mathmatical questions and sought the professor's
help to solve optical problems in some of his more extreme works. To find
out more about Dali visit Fundacio
Gala-Salvador Dali a wonderful website run by the estate of Salvador
Dali about the museum and the artists final home in Dali's hometown of
Figueras in Spain. Below you will find a selection of Dali's works simply
click on the thumbnail to be routed to that page with a larger image as
well as information about that work.