The painting Christ of Saint John of the Cross was painted by Dali, in 1951. At this time Dali had experienced a major transition in his life, he had become a reborn Catholic as well as a spiritualist. Catholic esotericism became the raison d'etre of Dali's works. Even Dali had very close relations with the Vatican, especially with the pope himself. Dali's painting of Jesus, became one of the best paintings of Jesus and is considered a masterpiece of Dali's painting. Young Dali was an anti-cleric, an anti-monarchist, and a republican. He started his activism by joining a group of Surrealist painters who at that time supported the republic. Dali was imprisoned during the reign of Primo de Rivera in 1924 for this attitude. But when the Spanish Civil War broke out, Dali chose to remain silent and watch developments. He was careful not to make statements in favor of Franco. Later then in 1939 Franco won the Spanish Civil War and became the leader of Spain. Dali publicly adored Francisco Franco and expressed his support for the Catholic Church. Dali's attitude made him expelled from the surrealist movement and ostracized by his comrades. Nevertheless Dali remained a surrealist, even Dali's painting of Jesus he depicted in his sublime surrealist imagination.