Authentication: We have a certificate from Nicolas Descharnes dated 31st July 2017 number d6926

Note on Provenance: John Peter Moore, A former British Army captain , first met Dalí in 1956 when he was working with film producer and director Alexander Korda in Rome, and arranged for him to be paid in cash for a painting of Laurence Olivier as Richard III. The two became friends. In 1960 Dalí employed Moore as his personal secretary and, from 1965, as his business manager. Together with Dalí's wife, Gala, they travelled regularly to New York for thewinter, Paris for the spring, and Cadaqués, in northern Spain, for the summer. Moore made money for Dalí through his merchandising schemes. "I was Goldfinger to Dalí," Moore said later. "I suggested he make graphics, lithographs, bed sheets, shoes, socks, ties anything saleable.” Although he was replaced in 1975, he maintained good relations with Dalí and Gala. With his wife, Catherine Perrot, he opened the Perrot-Moore Museum in Cadaqués in 1978 to show his collection of Dalís to the public. Some were gifts from the artist, others he had acquired through dealers, collectors or auctions. In 2003, aged 85 and with his reputation under fire, Moore closed the museum. He had no children and has decided to sell. Most works were sold at a huge auction in Paris organised by Artcuriel. Items coming from this source have, therefore, a direct link to Dali himself. Most if not all the works were stamped with the Museum stamp which can be seen on our work.

In the 1950s, Salvador Dalí entered one of the most pivotal and complex phases of his career—a period often referred to as his “nuclear mysticism” phase. Here’s an overview of what he was doing during this decade:

After his earlier fame as a Surrealist in the 1930s and 1940s, Dalí increasingly distanced himself from the Surrealist movement, aligning instead with themes of religion, science, and classical technique.

He combined traditional draftsmanship and Renaissance-style realism with emerging ideas in atomic theory, quantum physics, and Catholic mysticism.

This fusion became known as “nuclear mysticism”—a term Dalí himself coined to describe his post-atomic bomb worldview, where matter was no longer solid and God could be understood through science.

Some of his most technically accomplished and symbolically dense paintings were created during this time:

“The Madonna of Port Lligat” (1950 & 1952 versions) – A surreal take on the Virgin Mary with atomic disintegration.

“Christ of Saint John of the Cross” (1951) – One of his most famous religious works, with a dramatically foreshortened crucifixion scene seen from above.

“Galatea of the Spheres” (1952) – Depicts Gala, his wife and muse, as a constellation of floating spheres.

“The Sacrament of the Last Supper” (1955) – Commissioned by the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., blending Christian iconography with geometric harmony.

“The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory” (1954) – A nuclear-era reinterpretation of his iconic melting clocks from 1931.

In the 1950s, Dalí took on several prestigious illustration commissions:

Dante’s Divine Comedy (1951–1964): Commissioned by the Italian government for the 700th anniversary of Dante’s birth. Dalí created 100 surrealist watercolours illustrating Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso.

Don Quixote and The Bible: He also illustrated other literary and religious texts during this time, releasing limited edition prints.

Dalí continued to cultivate his flamboyant and eccentric public image. He became more commercially oriented and appeared frequently in the media, sometimes to the dismay of critics who saw him as a self-promoter.

He and Gala spent most of their time at Port Lligat in Catalonia, Spain, where he built a labyrinthine home/studio by the sea.

Dalí held major exhibitions throughout Europe and the United States.

He also began working more closely with American institutions and collectors, especially in New York, helping to solidify his status as a global celebrity artist.