Glasgow’s Dali masterpiece heads to Rome after special request by Vatican

SALVADOR Dali’s painting Christ Of St John Of The Cross, the greatest work of art in Glasgow’s civic collection, is to go on display at the Vatican next week.

It will be part of an exhibition at the Church of San Marcello al Corso in Rome

The exhibition is being organised by the Vatican in the lead-up to the Catholic Church’s jubilee year in 2025 and was requested by the Vatican Dicastery for Evangelisation, which is overseen by Pope Francis.

Councillors at Glasgow City Council approved the loan in April.

The famous work will be exhibited alongside a crucifix sketch from which Dali was inspired to create the work. Christ Crucified was drawn by 16th-century Carmelite priest John Of The Cross, who according to tradition, drew the sketch after a mystical revelation. The work is preserved in the Convent of the Incarnation in Avila, central Spain.

The Vatican said: “The two works on display in the church have never been displayed side by side in history, and for the first time they can be admired together.

“The exceptional possibility of exhibiting the relic-drawing was given by the generosity of the Monastery and the bishop of Avila, HE Monsignor Jesus Rico García.

“In addition to its extraordinary artistic beauty, the theme of Christian hope, which

Salvador Dali’s painting conveys, makes it particularly suitable for the context of the jubilee.”

The exhibition runs until June 23. The loan to The Vatican is the fifth time Dali’s painting has left Glasgow since 2010, It was secured for the city for £8,200 in 1952.

The masterpiece was the focus of a temporary exhibition in his home town of Figueres, Catalonia, from the end of last October until the end of last month.