Dematerialization near the nose of Nero

This work was shown in an exhibition at the Bignou Gallery, New York (25 November 1947–3 January 1948). It is an example of Dalí’s `nuclear-mysticism’ phase, which was inspired by the explosion of the atomic bomb over Hiroshima in 1945. Dalí sought an iconographic  equivalent  for  the  disintegration  of  the  atom;  he  wanted  to  reproduce nuclear fission through the dematerialisation not merely of objects but of figures too. The  latter  often  appear  in  his  work  suspended  or  fragmented  in  space  as  if  to demonstrate  both  the  divisibility  of  matter  and  the  abolition  of  gravity.  His  work  thus assimilates scientific knowledge as it was later to assimilate mysticism.

It represents a new evolution in his work, though the Dalinian iconography remains present in the cypress, the eternal landscape, the neo-classical architecture, the inkwells, the solitary figures (some of which refer to De Chirico and Italian Metaphysical painting). A central presence is that of the Roman emperor Nero in his laurel wreath, a figure to whom Dalí was particularly devoted. For Dalí, Nero represented a symbol of uncertainty and of devotion to chance. He kept a bust of Nero in his house in Port Lligat, Cadaqués.