Salvador Dalí's obsession with science

Abstract

The article makes evident Salvador Dalí's lifelong interest in science. Although the artist's eccentric figure overshadowed this interest, hidden behind the topic is another Dalí who sought to merge art and science. Although the painter distanced himself from surrealists for a time, he never detached himself from science. To the contrary, he kept well abreast of scientific discoveries-the atom bomb, the structure of DNA-and always depicted these in his work. He was in contact and maintained friendships with scientists like Juan Oró, Jorge Wagensberg, Matila Ghyka, Thomas Banchoff, and René Thom, as well as Nobel prize winners Dennis Gabor, Severo Ochoa, Ilya Prigogine, and James Watson. Dalí passed away surrounded by the letters and books of Stephen Hawking, Matila Ghyka, and Erwin Schrödinger.