Important influences here include the painter Giorgio de Chirico's evocations of his childhood in Greece and the ancient Mediterranean region, and the Surrealist celebration of the chance encounter between unrelated objects.
[4] According to the art historian Adrienne Dumas, the combination of classical fragments and modern objects in The Temple is reminiscent of Chirico's Le Rêve Transformé (1913) and The Song of Love (1914).
Dumas writes that The Temple is similar to many Chirico paintings in how it portrays a "strange or disjunctive antiquity", which creates a sense of crisis in a disjointed contemporary world, and simultaneously evokes "lyrical mystery and enduring power" that connect the past and the present.
In addition to The Temple, they appear in an ancient setting in The Lamps (1937), outside an abandoned train station in Horizons (1960), paving a walkway in All the Lights (1962),[8] and carried by women in The Cortege (1963), The Acropolis (1966) and Chrysis (1967).
[9] Delvaux said they were part of his original break with rationalism: "When I dared paint a Roman triumphal arch with, on the ground, lighted lamps, the decisive step had been taken.
"[10] The art historian and archaeologist Philippe Jockey [fr] writes that The Temple, like Delvaux's paintings in general, has no direct message to decipher, but it does have a "network of signifiers" associated with classical sculpture.
[5] According to Jockey, this is significant because it contrasts with an earlier painting by Delvaux, The Ruined Palace [fr] (1935), which shows a toppled and damaged female statue surrounded by stone fragments.
[11] The art critic Xavier Marret used The Temple as an example of how Delvaux created dreamlike and anxious environments by engaging viewers in thoughts as they look at the painting's setting, metallic blue sky, moonlight and image composition.
[13] The art historian Virginie Devillers likens the crate to an altar and writes that the painting expresses the "pure beauty", "enchantment" and "event" of light, especially moonlight.