Sunday Dalí: Saint Surrounded by Three Pi-Mesons, 1956. Oil on canvas, 42 x 31 cm. Fundación Gala-Salvador Dalí, Figueras, Spain.
A pi-meson or pion is a meson involved in holding the nucleus together, which is produced as the result of high-energy particle collision.
For those of you whore are still lost (because I am), a meson is an elementary particle responsible for the forces in the atomic nucleus.
This painting is clearly emblematic of Dalí’s nuclear-mystic period. The saint is loosely made of particles that seem to be spinning at a very high rate of speed. This reveals Dalí’s understanding and fascination with the atomic level of matter. However, here the “matter” is forming a saint, which symbolizes Dalí’s belief in the divine mysticism of particle physics.
