Myrna and Roger,
May I add Dali was also deep in the study of perspective, which he employed on this work in a brilliant way. So not only was his interest in atoms which drove him into producing this extraordinary painting, but also perspective played a big role in it.
Now if you see, not only do those atoms interact in space without touching each other as pointed out by studies in Dali's work, but there is also a depth of perspective in them which, according to his contemporaries, Dali also held in great consideration. And if I am not mistaken, the fact that they appear to come from the center of everything points to a likely metaphysical connotation with the Center of the World - an esoteric notion apparently very dear to Dali as well - and, maybe, with the theory of the initial Big Bang, which would introduce time into the equation as the origin of everything.
By the way, these factors may also have played a main role in Dali's Madonna of Port Lligat, which was painted in 1949 as well; in fact, Dali had become deeply interested in nuclear physics since the first atomic bomb explosions of 1945 and atom was, in his own words, his "favorite food for thought."
Thanks for your great, stimulating input.
Miguel
 Salvador Dali - Galatea of the Spheres (oil on canvas, 1952)
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