Atomic Age Adoration

When the United States dropped the Atomic Bombs in Nagasaki and Hiroshima they launched the world in the nuclear age and launched Dalí into a new obsession with religious ramifications. Salvador Dalí believed that “science and religion were increasingly becoming interconnected; thus, the combination of atomic-age physics and Catholic doctrine could aid in his exploration of the ‘mystery of life.’” (Nasab 2). This understanding of the world began to transform his work and Using the meeting of science and Christianity he sought to “justify Christianity for himself by using scientific principles to prove the validity of God” (Nasab 2).

In this painting, the inclusion of the tesseract is important because Dalí felt it represented “the impossibility of the human mind to understand the space in which God inhabits” (Nasab 12). Just as the painting is hard to decipher and even harder to conceptualize in the context of the fourth dimension, the human mind cannot conceive of truly coexisting with God. This is compatible with the scene Dalí chooses to depict as well. Biblically, part of the miracle of Jesus’ existence is that God himself took on a human form and limited himself to exist on earth with us. That perfection was seemingly removed from the world during the crucifixion as Jesus was killed, which could be described as his killers removing the loftiness of Christ rather than reconciling with his demanding existence.

Still, this moment in the Christian understanding also comes with a triumph— the promise of heaven, where we can more fully share the same space as God, for all those who believe in Him. Dalí’s Understanding that the works of God are beyond human imagination aligns with the Bible, specifically Ephesians 3:20-21 which states “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be the glory and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations for ever and ever! Amen!” (New International Version).