The Private Life of a Masterpiece | Christ of Saint John of the Cross by Salvador Dali

A 2004 BBC Arts Documentary narrated by Samuel West.

Salvador Dali's strange crucifixion is often called the greatest religious painting of the 20th century.
Yet its artist was a notorious blasphemer some of whose work had outraged the Catholic Church.

The Christ of St. John of the Cross by Salvador Dali is the first of two extraordinary crucifixions painted by Dali in the early 1950s. The painting is based on a 'cosmic dream' Dali is said to have had, in which the nucleus of the atom was a figure of Christ himself. The painting offers a surrealist view of the crucifixion of Christ, and is based on a drawing by the 16th century Spanish friar Saint John of the Cross.

But Dali's vision was somewhat unique, using an unusual artistic perspective in which Christ is seen from above. His Christ of St. John of The Cross was inspired by a weird mix of Spanish mysticism and nuclear physics, with his Christ being modelled by a Hollywood stuntman. It's also a masterpiece of painting technique.