“We do not need more intellectual power, we need more spiritual power. We do not need more of the things that are seen, we need more of the things that are unseen.” – Calvin Coolidge
At first glance, Salvador Dali’s Gala Contemplating the Mediterranean Sea is a naked woman looking out a window. A longer look reveals that the window is the shape of a cross and even closer, the crucifixion of Christ. There are several other elements, layers and meanings throughout the painting. And by stepping back 20 meters, a portrait of Abraham Lincoln suddenly appears. Layers on layers, depth, dimension, the picture in the picture, the unseen unfolds right in front of us.
When we realize that there’s so much that we don’t see, our world of people and places brightens and deepens, a story to be told and heard. Instead of seeing through eyes filtered by the past, judgment or assumption, we can look longer from different angles, asking questions to pursue what’s beneath the facade. In each of us, the unseen is waiting to be uncovered, revealed, shared, honored and asked to come out and play.
“Surrealism is destructive, but it destroys only what it considers to be shackles limiting our vision.” –Salvador Dali
The Dali Museum, St. Petersburg, Florida