Photo By Gail

Salvador Dali’s penchant for optical illusion and veiled iconography are evident in this painting, Madonna (1958). As seen from a distance, Raphael’s’ Sistine Madonna (after 1513; Gemaldegalerie Dresden) is situated within a gargantuan ear — a reference to the Passion of Christ. From close range, it is an abstract work composed of countless particle-like gray and pink dots, reflecting the artist’s interest in nuclear physics.

Photographed in the Museum of Modern Art in NYC