"Christ of St. John of the Cross" by Salvador Dale, 1951. Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow.
I've been saving this Dali painting for an appropriate occasion, but I'm tired of waiting. I find such power and beauty in Dali's two crucifixion paintings. Both are startling upon first glance, because they are so different from any other depictions that I have seen. The two seem quite reverent of their subject, Christ on the cross. The other is at the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
In the comments to the post on the feast day of Teresa of Avila, I was reminded that Teresa and John of the Cross were friends, soul-mates really, and that Teresa was a mentor to John, who also wrote lovely poems. That gave me reason enough to post the representation and a little holy poetry.
Here are brief quotes from John's poems:
The Living Flame of Love
How gently and lovingly
you wake in my heart,
where in secret you dwell alone;
and in your sweet breathing,
filled with good and glory,
how tenderly you swell my heart with love.
Stanzas concerning an ecstasy experienced in high contemplation.
I entered into unknowing,
and there I remained unknowing
transcending all knowledge.
1. I entered into unknowing,
yet when I saw myself there,
without knowing where I was,
I understood great things;
I will not say what I felt
for I remained in unknowing
transcending all knowledge.
2. That perfect knowledge
was of peace and holiness
held at no remove
in profound solitude;
it was something so secret
that I was left stammering,
transcending all knowledge.
Copyright ICS Publications.
Wiki says:
Christ of Saint John of the Cross is a painting by Salvador Dalí made in 1951. It depicts Jesus Christ on the cross in a darkened sky floating over a body of water complete with a boat and fishermen. Although it is a depiction of the crucifixion, it is devoid of nails, blood, and a crown of thorns, because, according to Dalí, he was convinced by a dream that these features would mar his depiction of Christ. Also in a dream, the importance of depicting Christ in the extreme angle evident in the painting was revealed to him.
From the Kelvingrove Art Gallery:
The strange title refers to Dali's principal inspiration for the painting - a pen and ink drawing made by the Spanish Carmelite friar who was canonised as St John of The Cross (1542–1591). The drawing intrigued Dali when he saw it preserved in the Convent at Avila, as it was made after the Saint had a vision in which he saw the Crucifixion as from above, looking down.
Drawing by John of the Cross from Carmelite.com
The little drawing by the mystic, St. John of the Cross, inspired the beautiful painting by Dali. So moves the Spirit of the living God.
In 1987 an 88 I lived at the top of Kelvingrove Park in Glasgow. On the other side of the university is this giant red brick museum, the Kelvingrove Museum, which I just loved. And Dali's Christ of St John of the Cross was, at that time, one of my favorites. Not least of the reasons was the fact that it was only a 5 minute walk away.
ReplyDeleteThe Kelvingrove has been restored in the past few years. It really is a treasure of a museum.
Strange day over at MPs today, by the way.
ReplyDeleteThis is extraordinary Grandmere.
ReplyDeleteAnd come by my blog when you can...
thank you for posting this. I also read a lot of Dark Night of the Soul.
ReplyDeleteDennis, I'd love to see the real painting. I have spent only one night in Glasgow when my flight to Dublin was held up because of mechanical problems. They kept us in the airport all day and finally put us up in a hotel for the night, so I saw very little of the city.
ReplyDeleteI've been getting emails to call my representative about this or that amendment to ENDA, but I'm lost. I want ENDA to pass, but apparently that's not a good thing now because it's watered down.
Anyway, I didn't call.
Fran, thanks. I love to do the art posts - not that I know all that much about art.
I want it to pass watered down or not. It is only likely to pass in a watered down version this year and a little is better than nothing.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm going to leave this subject alone now. I feel like I was branded the village bigot over at OCICBW today for suggesting that.
Probably going to take a little break from over there for a few days.
Dennis, I may be an unenlightened traditionalist, as well as an ignorant Canadian, but I'm at a loss to know how anyone, even a conservative, would want to oppose the ENDA. Even from a conservative point of view, where's the harm in it?
ReplyDeleteTim, I want it to pass, too. I am willing to take what we can pass through Congress instead of demanding that the exact version I want be passed.
ReplyDeleteArguing for political realism, to some, is to be an uncaring bigot.
A version of ENDA that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation looked possible to squeak through in Congress this year. Bush would veto it but a pass would be on the books and it would be a much faster pass with a Dem in the White House in 2 years.
But the purists must have everything now. If having changed one's gender through surgery or other means is not included, they yell, well then gays and lesbians don't get employment protection. In America the professional activist types have gone after the gay rights leadership with bared claws and the movement has rolled over rather than be called non accepting. Unfortunately there is no way that such an expanded bill will pass Congress. Thus we have a much harder battle in 2 yrs and are unlikely to get anything.
This really is a case of the perfect being the enemy of the good. But in an age of identity politics, those who sought personal meaning through their activism have got what they went looking for: a temporary boost to their personal ego by inflating their victim status. Unfortunately it comes at the cost of a real political victory.
I've always loved that painting. It says more than pages of theological text.
ReplyDeleteD.P.
Bigots, unenlightened traditionalists, and ignorant Canadians! I don't deserve such classy commentary.
ReplyDeleteDP, the painting speaks to my heart.
It's the host that's classy, Mimi.
ReplyDeleteAlso, you're not rude to us like He Who Must Not Be Named.
Tim, I try.
ReplyDeleteBubbe Mimi [that's what I always called my grandmere), I was rushed through Kelvingore while on a package tour; we arrived in Glasgow at the end of the day, and rush hour took an hour off our visiting time. We got there fifteen minutes before closing, and all I remember is walls chock a block of paintings.
ReplyDeleteBut the painting in Scotland you'd most want to see is in Edinburgh at the National Gallery. You walk into room, and see a painting that seems to be literally made of light, and you know it's an El Greco even before you get close to it. I don't know the formal title of the picture, but it was a portrait of Christ by El Greco, and took my breath away.
BTW, my copy of the drawing seems to be the reverse of what's posted here. It shows Jesus on the viewer's left. Was that blogger.com's doing? My copy is the frontispiece to the ICS Collected Works, 1079 edition.
Kishnevi, that's the image as it appears on the page that I linked to. Whether it's facing in the proper direction, I can't say for sure. There's not much in Google about the drawing. Yours could possibly be correct.
ReplyDeleteEl Greco is another of my favorites. Is this the painting in the National Gallery in Edinburgh that you refer to? If it is, I've seen it, and it's beautiful. The National Gallery in Scotland is a wonderful museum - not huge and overwhelming - but with a fine collection.