The Hour of Monarchy was painted by Salvador Dalí, and is currently located in Barcelona, Spain, in the Palacio Albeniz.
Dalí was one of the best known painters of the Surrealist movement, and became a Christian later in life. Looking back on Dalí’s paintings, and antics, before 1949, they illustrate the fruit of a brilliant mind. However, a mind devoid of Christian thought. In the late 1940’s, Dalí entered into his Nuclear Mysticism period. Around this time, he remarried his wife Gala, and painted several pieces of surreal Christian art. Some of which are: The Madonna of Port Lligat, The Sacrament of the Last Supper, and Christ of St John of the Cross.
As the title, The Hour of Monarchy suggests, the painting depicts the unknown hour of the return of Christ.
In this Christian Mandala, believers clothed in Tarzan-style garments are ascending into the clouds to meet Christ, implied to be at the center of the mandala. The Holy Spirit, symbolized by the colored dove, is spiraling up with the believers, accompanying them on their journey.
The three “highest” believers are reaching out to a crown and victor’s wreaths.
At the upper right of the inward circle, there is a mannequin pointing to a picture of a darkened sun. This is meant to call into the viewer’s mind Matthew 24, regarding the end times. Specifically verse 29:
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” (ESV)
At the bottom of the inner portion of the mandala, where the dove begins is spiral upward, is Sagrada Família, a church architected by Antoni Gaudi, also located in Barcelona.
We also note a soft watch suspended from a bar overlapping Sagrada Família. The soft watch calls into mind one of Dalí’s most famous works: Persistence of Memory (often referred to as Soft Watches, or Melting Watches). The melting watch could refer to the believers entering a realm where time isn’t experienced the same way as it is on Earth.
It is interesting to note that Persistence of Memory was painted in 1931, before Dalí converted. With this in mind, it could also imply that the time one becomes a Christian doesn’t matter, as long as you do believe in Christ when you pass on from this life into the next. Something that, no doubt, reassured him, and can serve to reassure us.
For those curious to learn more about Salvador Dalí’s faith, he discusses it briefly in an interview with Mike Wallace. The main discussion begins around the 13 minute mark of part 1, and continues in part 2.
Although it’s not a phrase found in the Bible, the Lord works in mysterious ways. This is certainly a phrase that comes to mind when thinking of Salvador’s conversion to Christianity.
Check back for the 9th on our list of Christian Mandala Creators!
The Hour of Monarchy was retrieved from: http://onesurrealistaday.com/post/29300025504/hour-of-the-monarchy