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''The Ecumenical Council'' is a surrealist painting by Spanish artist Salvador Dalí completed in 1960. It is one of his masterpieces, taking two years to complete and very large at . The painting is a complex assemblage of art historical references and religious scenes emphasizing Catholic symbolism. Dalí was inspired to paint ''The Ecumenical Council'' upon the 1958 election of Pope John XXIII, as the pope had extended communication to Geoffrey Fisher, the Archbishop of Canterbury; the first such invitation in more than four centuries. The painting expresses Dalí's renewed hope in religious leadership following the devastation of World War II. Today, it is housed in the Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. ==Background== Salvador Dalí was 54 years old when he began to paint ''The Ecumenical Council''. He was established as a surrealist with a reputation for shocking audiences with fantastic imagery, something that ''New York Times'' chief art critic John Canaday later characterized as "the naughtiness that obsessed him".〔Canaday, pp. 98–103.〕 His work began to take on darker, more violent overtones during World War II.〔Wach, p. 23.〕 Possibly spurred both by the death of his father in 1950 and his interest in the writings of a French theologian, Dalí began to incorporate religious iconography in his work. He was by this time an international star and able to secure an audience with Pope Pius XII.〔Wach, p. 24.〕 By the late 1950s, both religious and cosmic matters preoccupied his work while his canvases became especially large, as if, according to author Kenneth Wach, he was "motivated by a desire to match such admired historical antecedents as the Spanish artists Murillo, Velázquez, and Zurbarán, and thereby to secure his place in the art of the century".〔Wach, p. 26.〕 When a new pope was being considered in 1958, Dalí was an enthusiastic supporter of Angelo Giuseppe Cardinal Roncalli, to the extent that Roncalli's ear became the subject of his trompe-l'œil composition ''The Sistine Madonna'' (1958).〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Ecumenical Council (painting)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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