Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Santiago El Grande, by Salvador Dali
Santiago El Grande, 1957, Salvador Dali. Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, New Brunswick.
Salvador Dalí was born in Figueres, Spain, on 11 May 1904. Dalí was a visionary surrealist whose boundless imagination, technical brilliance, and flamboyant persona reshaped 20th-century art. His dreamlike imagery and darng ideas made him one of the most iconic artists of his time. Among his monumental works is Santiago el Grande (1957).
Towering over 13 feet tall, it shows a levitating Saint James on a white stallion rising above the sea, a striking fusion of classical symbolism and surrealist energy. This triumphant rendering of Saint James the Great (Santiago El Grande in Spanish) presents the patron saint of Spain rising from the sea astride a white stallion and brandishing an oversized crucifix. An atomic explosion bursting from the four petals of a jasmine flower – a symbol of purity and one of the artist’s favorite aromas (a personal reference amidst an iconography that is otherwise rooted in Spanish tradition) – raises the triumphant steed toward heaven. There are numerous other elements in the painting which reinforce the narratives of religiosity and nationalism. Acquired by Lord Beaverbrook in 1959, it remains a centrepiece of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery’s collection and a visitor favourite.
Salvador Dali.
In addition to Lord Beaverbrook’s own acquisitions, the Gallery had received two major donations of artworks before its opening. Toronto businessman James Boylen donated 22 paintings by Cornelius Krieghoff. Lady Dunn donated three portraits by Walter Sickert and three works by Salvador Dali. Two of the Dali paintings were portraits of Lord and Lady Dunn, while the third was the very large painting Santiago El Grande, which was on display in the central gallery when the Beaverbrook Art Gallery opened and has become closely identified with the Gallery. This painting, which measures 13 by 10 feet (400 cm × 300 cm), and represents Spain’s patron saint James the Great on a white horse, had been created for the Spanish Pavilion at the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair.
Sculptures by Jonathan Kenworthy (The Leopard) and Marie-Hélène Allain (Awakening/Éveil) have been on display on the lawns in front of the Gallery since 1985.