Christ of St John of the Cross by Salvador DaliChrist of Saint John of the Cross was painted by the Spanish Surrealist painter, Salvador Dali in 1951 at a time when he was emerging from the strong anti-religious atheism of his youth and was re-embracing the Catholic faith. In my view it contains a lot of religious depth, but space will confine me to offer just a few reflections on how it explores and articulates the redemption.

It is partly inspired by a drawing Dali was shown by the 16th century Spanish Carmelite mystic, St John of the Cross (see right), hence Dali’s title. He has taken from the Carmelite the daring idea of portraying Christ viewed from above but he has changed much else. Gone is the tortured form of the body, the big nail(s) and the sweat. I would suggest that what we now have is an expression of the theology of the Cross and of Christ as found in the fourth Gospel. In a way, and despite its title

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