Exploding Head - Salvador Dali

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This has been one of my favourite images for many years. I've never seen the original but even without the help of Wikipedia it was easy to understand at least a part of what had prompted him to paint it. The experts say:

"Dalí has fragmented the head to show how the sense of order from the past, illustrated by the balance and reason of a classical icon, has been shattered by the advent of nuclear weapons. The motif of the shattered head was a common one amongst artists in the post-war years. This reflects the emotional turmoil of a period when nuclear war seemed like a reality, following the use of nuclear weapons in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In this context, the delicate halo of the Madonna now suggests a nuclear mushroom cloud and her expression, with eyes downcast in prayer, seems particularly appropriate."

To me it represented much of what I felt, without any reference to what was going on in the outside world. Perhaps my generation were all affected by the splitting of the atom and the nuclear bomb so that our personal journeys were seen in the shadow of that mushroom cloud. It shattered much of what had been regarded as certainties. Dissertations have no doubt been written on this, I'm not going to add to them, but the forced readjustments probably contributed to the shift in perception in many fields - religion, the personal responsibility of ethical choice, and so on and so on.  

There was one period of my life when I feared I would lose myself completely in a tumbling  of conflicting perceptions, unable to form reliable or even intelligible concepts. And, of course, there was the  nightmare whirl of guilt and fear and ego. Can't say I've found my way out of all that gracefully but I have found a certain peace - and learned to live with the fragmentation. 

Well, I don't understand the outlining in white or antique cream.  Can't get rid of it either. A new reason for my head to explode! There was an interesting programme on BBC 4 last night on The Brain. Brains of Nun's who had agreed to donate their brains to medical science after they died, sometimes showed distinct signs of Alzheimer's although whilst alive they weren't exhibiting symptoms. The deduction was that the brain is like a tool box and if one tool disappears (brain cells die) the synapses find other cells that will perform the same function. I may have got the technical jargon wrong but I hope the imagery is enough to transmit the message! Determination - or an assumption that we will continue to function in the way we are used to, is enough to keep us doing it - maybe. Amazing, and there was more amazing stuff that I want to re-watch.