Dalí's motivation
What faith did Salvador Dali have?
Galatea of the Spheres
Dalí had been greatly interested in nuclear physics since the first atomic bomb explosions of August 1945, and described the atom as his "favourite food for thought". Recognising that matter was made up of atoms which did not touch each other, he sought to replicate this in his art at the time, with items suspended and not interacting with each other, such as in "The Madonna of Port Lligat". This painting was also symbolic of his attempt to reconcile his new faith in Catholicism with nuclear physics. His friend, painter Antoni Pitxot, recalled that Dalí held in high regard the depth of perspective in the painting and the spheres he had painted. Dalí wished for this painting to be displayed on an easel, which had been owned by French painter Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier, in a suite of three rooms called the Palace of the Winds (named for the "tramontana") in the Dalí Theatre and Museum in Figueres. It remains on display there to this day. It was transported to and exhibited at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne in 2009, along with many other Dalí paintings in the "Liquid Desire" exhibition. 