An Easter Egg!
In both paintings, the objects that surround the Madonna and Child enhance the painting’s mediation on the religious themes. A shell, reminiscent of Botticelli’s Venus (who is another divine figure born without sex), is the origin of a fine thread. This thread allows an egg to hover prominently amid storm clouds and between the gap at the top of the altar.
Salvador Dalí, The Madonna of Port Lligat, 1949, Haggerty Museum of Art, Milwaukee, WI, USA. Detail.
The egg is a smooth white ostrich egg, another symbol of purity and virgin birth – due to the medieval myth that ostrich eggs were hatched by sunlight.
Gala Dalí: Immortalized by Love
Dalí’s devotion to Gala was equal to Gala’s dedication to Dalí and their combined enterprise. Dalí’s loving depictions of his protagonist make this clear. In addition to paying her back by memorializing her in his works of art, Dalí also bought her a gothic castle in 1969. As a final monument to his muse, Dalí actively took part in the reconstruction and renovation of the abandoned castle.
Gala moved into the castle in the 1970s. Dalí met her there only after receiving handwritten invitations. He was devastated when she passed away in 1982. In order to celebrate her again in an original work of art, he chose to bury her inside the castle in a mausoleum shaped like a chessboard.
Gala should be viewed in the same light as Dalí when it comes to the great voices of surrealism. She shared and shaped the lives of many artists of the movement by serving as a powerful romantic heroine. Most importantly, she made a life-long commitment to Dalí, serving as his advocate, agent, creative collaborator, and muse. In exchange, unlike so many artists and male narratives throughout history, he publicly recognized her influence. The castle that he bought for her, which was truly fit for a queen, is the best example of how grateful Dalí was to Gala and how deeply he loved her.
Spot the Difference
There are two versions of Salvador Dalí’s The Madonna of Port Ligat. One lives in the US at the Haggerty Museum of Art and the other lives in Japan at Fukuoka Art Museum. Together they are a captivating game of spot-the-difference and guess-the-meaning.
Salvador Dalí, The Madonna of Port Lligat, 1949, Haggerty Museum of Art, Milwaukee, WI, USA.
The first is small (19.3 x 15.8 in) and when the second was created, a year later in 1950, it had swollen in size (108,4 x 82,6 in) and detail. Together the two create a sort of animation.
Salvador Dalí, The Madonna of Port Lligat, 1950, Fukuoka Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan.
It looks as if the first altar scene slowly rumbled backward and elements of the painting moved or grew, and new aspects emerged. Madonna’s clothes get disturbed, as she moves her foot out; the altar both grows (the bottom part raising upwards) and decays; and the sea urchin (a symbol of fertility, a flower of the sea) shrinks, splits, and falls. The clouds roll in and the color palette darkens.
Crucifixion
The shell and egg are aligned with the sheath of wheat and a rose, which hover vertically at the bottom of the altar. The wheat links to the other pieces of bread in the image: the body of Christ and the basket that sits on the lower part of the altar.
These images align with the altar to create the sign of the cross, which is completed by Christ’s outstretched arms and a line dividing heaven and earth.
Salvador Dalí, The Madonna of Port Lligat, 1950, Fukuoka Art Museum, Fukoka, Japan. Detail.
The crucifixion is also referenced by the long nail that is affixed to the left side of the altar. From this, a second thread suspends a piece of decaying meat. The new curtains that hang at the top corners could also be an allusion to the event of the temple curtain splitting at the moment of Jesus’ death on the cross.
