Sunday Dalí: Virgin of Guadalupe, 1959.

The faces of Mary and the infant Jesus are copied from Raphael’s Sistine Madonna.

From Meeting Dalí!:

According to tradition, Mexican peasant Juan Diego saw a vision of a young woman on Dec. 9, 1531. While he was on a hill in the desert near Mexico City, the woman told him to build a church on the exact spot where they were standing. When he told the local bishop, Diego was asked for proof, so he went back and saw the vision again. He told the woman of the bishop’s request for proof, and the lady told him, “Bring the roses behind you.” When he turned around, he saw roses growing, which he cut and placed in his poncho. He returned to the bishop, noting he brought proof. Upon opening his poncho, instead of roses there was a picture of the young lady in the vision.

Dalí’s atomic sunflower encircles the head of Mary and Christ signifying Dalí’s ongoing investigation into nuclear mysticism. This is reinforced by the two praying figures, which are direct copies of the foreground figures in Dalí’s The Sacrament of the Last Supper.