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Captivated by Christ               

Andrew Kennedy

Christ of St John of the Cross, Salvador Dali, 1952

This painting hangs in the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, my home city. I remember first seeing it in 1980, when I was 8 years of age, visiting the gallery with my grandparents. I don’t remember feeling particularly religious at that age, but I do remember feeling incredibly touched and moved by what I saw, and I stood and looked at the painting (it’s about 8 feet tall) for about half an hour. I almost had to be dragged away, which is unusual for me; I’m not a massive art aficionado. Dali himself was not really a religious man. He was a surrealist artist and most of his paintings are the types that I would look at and say “how do people get away with calling that art”? But, somehow, Dali was captivated by Christ. He wasn’t a believer, but there was something about Christ that could not let him go. He just had to paint him. This reminds me that Christ touches everyone; people of deep faith and no faith. 

 At times of joy, crisis, and other turning points in life, I often reach for the postcard of this painting that I bought more than 40 years ago.

 When I’m in danger of getting overly confident, or I’ve done or said something I am not proud of, it grounds me in my past. It reminds me that my grandparents – who I love but see no longer, and Christ, would not be pleased with me. But, yet, in recognising my contrition, I am sure that forgiveness is always there.     

 I have no idea if this is what Dali intended but, to me, this is Christ reflecting, on the cross, knowing that his hour had come, about the world he is about to leave. It makes me think about the people who followed Christ, the people who never got a chance to know him, and the people who let him down. I am one of all of them. I follow him, I wish I’d met him (but feel I somehow know him) and I realise that, sometimes, I let him down.

 This all makes me wonder what he feels now about the world he left 2,000 years ago. What he feels about the people who fall out in his name? The, to me misguided, man in a white dress who once told me that I wasn’t good enough to receive Christ’s body and blood because I didn’t particularly believe in transubstantiation. I think Christ would be disappointed by that. The people who say that only men can consecrate bread and wine and that people who are not heterosexual have no place in the church. Christ, to me, is here for all, and he must be disappointed when simple people make Christianity a simple faith. I think it’s much more complex and complicated than that.

 So, at this time of advent, in preparation for the wonder of Christmas, this painting helps me reflect on my role in the world as a child of Christ, as a son; as a husband, lover and companion; as a father; as a friend; and as a colleague. This painting gives me hope as I know Christ is always there. It reminds me of my roots and it lets me reflect on how much Christ and previous generations of my family have done for me.

 I feel humbled and excited by Dali’s amazing painting and I hope you will too.