Strikingly bold, Salvador Dalí’s watercolor on paper, Moïse from his La Sainte Bible series, 1964, expresses a creative exploration into traditional biblical iconography. Here, the Old Testament figure Moses is painted in three-quarters view, reminiscent of the Renaissance portraiture Dalí showed great interest in later in his career. Dalí reinvigorates this iconography by slightly altering traditional characteristics. Rather than simply replicating Moses’ horns, a hallmark of Medieval and Renaissance European depictions of the figure, Dalí creates stylized opaque black horns which seem to grow out of Moses’ head and into a washed-out halo that emanates from the figure. The washy halo maintains the dreamlike state that is so integral to many of Dalí’s works and reflects the lasting imprint of Surrealism on his practice.
Through this portrait, Dalí strikes a balance between science and faith, as he believed that scientific advances such as Einstein's theory of relativity were a direct result of God's presence, furthering his Catholic piety. This work, as part of the series of watercolor illustrations for La Sainte Bible, advanced Dalí’s renewed engagement with religious iconography. These works highlight his complicated and evolving relationship with religion, having renounced, then reclaimed, his Catholic upbringing. Dalí explores these themes while maintaining concurrent interests in Freudian concepts, tapping into the unconscious through eerie compositions. Moïse represents Dalí’s effort to symbolically extract meaning from religious iconography, reviving traditional representations of Moses and the bible at large.
