The Classical Years
(1941 - 1989)
When Dalí scholars speak of Dalí "becoming classic" what they mean is that he was following his professed goal to embrace more traditional and universal themes in his work. In early 1941, Gala managed to convince Dalí that all of his Surrealist glory was nothing, and that even greater heights were his for the taking. It turned out that she was right, but it needs to be mentioned that one of the main reasons for Dalí's success was Gala herself. She constantly advised him on how to act and interact with the art community, especially while they were in America for most of the 1940's.
In the early 1950's Dalí developed his principles of Nuclear Mysticism. This was basically an eclectic combination of all of his artistic, and philosophical influences, especially the seemingly contradictory poles of science and religion. For some time, since childhood actually, he had been interested in science and the way the world worked. During the 1940's and 50's he more fully developed his ideas into the concept of Nuclear Mysticism. He surmised that the nature of reality would be fully explained by science soon enough, and that the very basis of life would prove to be a spiral. Indeed, when Crick and Watson discovered the double helix strand nature of the DNA molecule in 1953, Dalí was somewhat vindicated in his theories. One painting in particular, Nature Morte Vivante (Still Life- Fast Moving) illustrates this concept directly.