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Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus.

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Larger Image	Larger image may be viewed by UofL faculty, staff, and students only (log-in required using ULink username/password) at: http://echo.louisville.edu/login?url=http://vrc-web.louisville.edu/Jpegs/2440/2447-29.jpg
Title	Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus.
Creator	Dali, Salvador (Spanish painter and printmaker, 1904-1989)
Date	1958-1959
Cultural Context	Spanish European Western European
Style/Period	Surrealist Modern (styles and periods) Modernist
Theme	Paintings (visual works) Oil paintings (visual works) Marines (visual works) Avant-garde Religious art Religious symbolism Symbolism (artistic concept) Symbols Imagery Allusion Roman Catholicism Christianity Scenes (depictions) Figurative art Figures (representations) Front views Three-quarter views Oblique views Profiles (figures) Back views Self-portraits Portraits Historiated portraits Double portraits Nudes (representations) Nudity Men (male humans) Women Wives Husbands Spouses Explorers Saints Religious (people) Costume (mode of fashion) Drapery (representations) Haloes Crucifixes Crosses (motifs) Crosses (objects) Religious objects Ceremonial objects Lances (cavalry weapons) Spears (weapons) Edged weapons Staff weapons Weapons Banners Flags Standards (identifying artifacts) Ships Sailing vessels Sailing ships Watercraft Boats Sails Bows (vehicle components) Vehicles (transportation) Shadows Cliffs Bodies of water Shores (landforms)
Subject	Paintings Oil paintings Marines (Visual works) Symbols Allusions Discovery & exploration Catholicism Christianity Portraits Self-portraits Portrait paintings Men Women Spouses Nudes Explorers Saints People associated with religion Backs (Anatomy) Clothing & dress Lifting & carrying Walking Locomotion Human locomotion Floating Crucifixes Crosses Religious articles Ceremonial objects Spears Arms & armament Banners Flags Standards (Identifying artifacts) Military standards Ships Sailing ships Vessels Boats Vehicles Shadows Cliffs Bodies of water Coastlines
Description	"Dali and Gala had every reason to be grateful to America, which had showered them with dollars. Here, as Columbus, the painter kneels on the shore, holding aloft a silver crucifix. Gala appears once more as Virgin Mary, on the banner." (Caption); "Uppermost in Dali's mind while he painted it was the approaching tercentenary, in 1960, of the death of Vellázquez. The standards that fill the right side of the vast work (410 x 284 cm) echo the twenty-eight lances in The Surrender of Breda, and Dali said that the hole in the centre of the upper sail of Columbus's ship was a reference to that of the key in Velázquez's painting - the key to Breda that is handed by Justinus of Nassau, the Flemish leader, to the Spanish conquerors. […] Dali was convinced, or convinced himself that he was convinced, that Columbus was not only a Catalan but from Girona. There are allusions to Girona in the canvas, therefore, the town being symbolized by its patron, Saint Narcissus, who can be seen at the bottom left of the work. The presence of the cliffs of Creus in the upper left-hand corner could be similarly justified (if Dali needed any such justification). Isidor Bea, seen from behind, was the model for the saint, an acknowledgement, no doubt, of the vital part he was playing in the production of this and other similarly large-scale canvases. […] Since the Spaniards took Catholicism to the New World, the theme of the 'Discovery' enabled Dali to include yet another portrait of Gala in the role of the Virgin Mary, this time figuring on a banner as the Immaculate Conception. Dali also quoted once more The Christ of Saint John of the Cross, and he himself is the balding and moustachioed personage who kneels on the shore holding aloft a heavy silver crucifix. Dali and Gala had every reason to be grateful to America, of course. It had showered them with dollars, and, with commissions like this, was continuing to do so. […] The previous summer in Port Lligat, Reynolds Morse had had the 'temerity' to object that the sea urchin in the foreground of the picture surrounded by rings was too ponderous and should be left out. Dali was extremely irritated by the remark. There could be no question of removing it! […] When the painting went on show Dali explained that the pear shape of the ringed urchin alluded to the earth as seen from the American spaceship Explorer, and symbolized 'nuclear science'. Some years later he went further and boasted that the urchin heralded the launching of the first satellite two years afterwards. Eleanor Morse decided in 1971 that Dali had taken literally John Kennedy's promise that America would land a man on the moon within a decade, and that the sea urchin was an advance celebration of the great event that was to occur on 21 June 1969. But, even if she was right, this does not make the painting prophetic, merely opportunistic." (Excerpts, pp.543-544)
People Pictured	Dalí, Salvador, 1904-1989 Dalí, Gala Mary, Blessed Virgin, Saint Columbus, Christopher
Location Depicted	Creus, Cape (Spain) Gerona (Spain : Province) Catalonia (Spain) Spain America
Material	Oil on canvas Oil paint (pigmented coating) Paint Canvas
Measurements	410 x 284 cm
Technique	Oil painting (technique) Painting (image-making)
Work Type	Oil paintings Paintings
Repository	Salvador Dalí Foundation Museum (St. Petersburg, Florida)
Source	Gibson, Ian. The Shameful Life of Salvador Dali. New York; London: W.W. Norton, 1998. (Color plate XXXVII)
Rights	Photograph reproduced in Gibson courtesy: © 1998 Salvador Dali Museum, Inc.
Digital Publisher	University of Louisville Department of Fine Arts/Allen R. Hite Art Institute Visual Resources Center
Format	image/jpeg
Digital File Name	VRC 2447-29.jpg
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