Wikipedia:Today's featured article/March 16, 2022
The Colossus of Rhodes is a 1954 oil painting by the Spanish artist Salvador Dalí (pictured). One of a series of seven paintings created for the 1956 film Seven Wonders of the World, it shows the Colossus of Rhodes, the ancient statue of the Greek titan-god of the sun, Helios. Painted two decades after Dalí's heyday with the surrealist movement, The Colossus of Rhodes is emblematic of his transition from the avant-garde to the mainstream. After financial pressures imposed by his move to the United States in 1940, and influenced by his fascination with Hollywood, he shifted focus away from his earlier exploration of the subconscious and perception, and towards historical and scientific themes. His rendering of the Colossus is heavily influenced by a 1953 presentation by Herbert Maryon, a sculptor and conservator at the British Museum. None of the commissioned paintings were ultimately used for the film, and The Colossus of Rhodes was donated in 1981 to the Kunstmuseum Bern. (Full article...)