GREGOIRE
JEANMONOD
Art and its stories as an inspiration
Salvador Dali
Raphael's Madonna at Maximum Speed
1954
Explore other universes
Famous for his megalomaniac extravagances as much as for his hallucinatory works, emblematic of the surrealist current of which he was one of the representatives, the Spaniard Salvador Dali nourished a boundless passion for the universe of science. An avid reader of the most difficult theories, from the science of black holes to quantum physics, he admired Albert Einstein, revered Stephen Hawking, and had become friends with several winners of the Nobel Prize or the Fields Medal. To the point that he claimed to evolve with the same ease in the world of art and in that of science.
Far from being only a center of interest foreign to his work as an artist, the sciences inspired much of his work. Indeed many of his works refer, more or less explicitly, to mathematical or scientific discoveries. such as catastrophe theory or the molecular structure of DNA. Ideas that he did not hesitate to associate with familiar artistic imagery, often with religious connotations. Here, for example, he "disintegrates" a Madonna by Raphael by jointly recalling the atomic nature of matter and the spiritual dimension of existence.
What we can take away:
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Innovation comes from the mixing of ideas and the meeting of knowledge - and know-how - of different natures. Being successful in a given discipline therefore requires not only a certain expertise in this field, but also an ability to be curious about other universes, to broaden our outlook and stimulate our creativity. Diversifying our centers of interest means exploring the world in all its richness.
