The Beaverbrook Art Gallery is home to what is widely considered one of Salvador Dal\u00ed\u2019s masterpieces, what some of the leading experts in the field consider one the best works ever produced by the Spanish painter.\u00a0 As Dali scholar Elliot H. King correctly notes, \u201cno painting is so aligned with the Beaverbrook Art Gallery.\u201d Never one to shy away from self-praise, Dal\u00ed said of this work, \u201cIt\u2019s the greatest painting since Raphael.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Santiago El Grande<\/em><\/strong> <\/em>est la pi\u00e8ce ma\u00eetresse de la collection permanente du Beaverbrook depuis que Lady Dunn en a fait don au mus\u00e9e en 1959. Depuis 2017, l\u2019\u0153uvre poss\u00e8de son propre espace dans le pavillon 2017. Au fil des d\u00e9cennies, d\u2019innombrables personnes sont venues au mus\u00e9e sp\u00e9cialement pour le plaisir d\u2019admirer ce chef-d\u2019\u0153uvre \u00e9tonnant au Nouveau-Brunswick. <\/p>\n\n\n\n La collection permanente du Beaverbrook comprend de nombreuses \u0153uvres pr\u00e9sentant une imagerie religieuse, dont plusieurs s\u2019inspirent de la Bible. Bien entendu, jusqu\u2019au XVIe si\u00e8cle, la quasi-totalit\u00e9 de l\u2019art visuel occidental touchait au religieux. Les \u00e9glises et les chefs religieux commandaient des peintures et des sculptures pour d\u00e9corer leurs b\u00e2timents et lieux sacr\u00e9s, en signe de leur d\u00e9votion et (avec un peu d\u2019espoir) leur vertu. Malgr\u00e9 la mont\u00e9e en importance de l\u2019art profane, l\u2019art religieux conservera une emprise significative sur les artistes et les m\u00e9c\u00e8nes apr\u00e8s la R\u00e9forme et la Renaissance, et ce largement jusqu\u2019aux \u00e9poques romantique et moderne. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dal\u00ed was not alone, of course, in his turn to religious imagery and themes in his post-war painting. Religious imagery has always been part of the modern project. Another masterwork in our permanent collection is by British artist Stanley Spencer, whose The Marriage at Cana: A Servant in the Kitchen Announcing the Miracle<\/em> <\/strong>shares with Dal\u00ed a biblical source for a work that was vibrantly contemporary when it was painted in 1953.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pour replacer Santiago El Grande <\/em><\/strong>and to honour this aspect of our artistic heritage, the Beaverbrook Art Gallery has installed this selection of religious-themed works in a newly reconsidered \u201cDal\u00ed Chapel.\u201d Comprising European Renaissance and Baroque works alongside Canadian and International modernism and postmodernism, we hope this offers an opportunity to compare the evolution of sacred art over many centuries, while giving a fresh view of the humanity and complexity of these examples of the religious impulse.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Religious imagery, as interpreted by artists throughout the ages, has long served as a way for artists to express their faiths and their philosophies, to expand on tradition and to suggest novel new ways of thinking about the world. Whatever one\u2019s personal faith, the Dal\u00ed Chapel should provide the opportunity for a visual, intellectual and imaginative journey through time.\u00a0\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n