"The Persistence of Memory": Dalí's Icon of Surrealism

"The Persistence of Memory" - Salvador Dalí painted this key work of Surrealism in 1931. The original oil painting, measuring only 24.1 x 33 centimetres, is today a symbol of an entire era of art. The melting clocks, in particular, have become a symbol of the bizarre and surreal imagery of Surrealism.

When Dalí completed the painting, he was still at the very beginning of his career. In the previous years, he had made his first contact with the Surrealists and was just beginning to develop his typical individual style of painting. In the same year that Dalí painted the work, the Parisian gallery owner Pierre Colle exhibited it. It was acquired by the New York gallery Julien Levy in 1934 and ended up with an anonymous buyer who eventually donated it to the Museum of Modern Art in New York, where it remains one of the museum's major attractions to this day.

"The Persistence of Memory" by Salvador Dalí not only made (art) history but also had a lasting influence on (pop) culture. The motif has been quoted and reproduced countless times and printed on merchandise items such as mugs, T-shirts, pillows, watches, socks, and puzzles.

Salvador Dalí - The Genius of Surrealism

Salvador Dalí (1904 - 1989) was one of the most famous artistic personalities of the 20th century. His name is synonymous with the art of Surrealism like no other. He sought inspiration in his subconscious and uncontrolled fantasies, attempting to completely eliminate logic and reason while painting. He, therefore, referred to his paintings as "hand-painted dream photographs".

However, Dalí's great success was not only based on his bizarre and fascinating pictorial compositions. His self-staging as an eccentric painter prince was at least as important for his success. Deliberate provocation and a certain arrogance were part of his programme. He once reportedly said:

"I myself am Surrealism."

This excess of self-confidence was not always well-received. He was ridiculed by fellow artists, and critics mocked him as lacking talent. However, his success with the public proved him right, as he evidently hit the audience's taste with precision.

To this day, paintings such as "Sleep", "Bacchanale", "The Temptation of St Anthony", and "Les Éléphants" are among the most popular motifs in art history. Dalí's most expensive painting is "Ma femme nue regardant son propre Corps", which fetched around £3 million at an auction in 2000. Additionally, two large museums are named after him today: The "Teatre-Museu Dalí" in his Catalan hometown of Figueres and the "Dalí Museum" in St. Petersburg, Florida. Furthermore, some of his monumental sculptures are located in prominent places in various metropolises around the world, such as Singapore, Tel Aviv, and Amsterdam.

Salvador Dalí was born in 1904 in Catalonia. He began drawing lessons at the age of ten. From 1922, he attended the art academy "Academia San Fernando" in Madrid. Whilst travelling to Paris, he met avant-garde artists such as the director Luis Buñuel and the painter Joan Miró.

In 1929, he finally joined the Paris Surrealists and became one of the most important representatives of this style. Throughout his life, he worked with various techniques and materials. His work included painting, sculpture and graphic art as well as photography, film, literature, theatre costumes and stage sets.

Surrealism - Art From a Bizarre Parallel World

Salvador Dalí is considered the most prominent representative of Surrealism today. This style developed in Paris in the 1920s and encompassed not only painting but also literature, photography, and film. Alongside Dalí, the pioneers of Surrealism included Max Ernst, Joan Miró, Man Ray, Yves Tanguy, René Magritte, and Luis Buñuel.

The surrealists rejected reality as a reference point for their art and sought inspiration in the unconscious and subconscious. They aimed to create insights into a world that lay beyond visible reality, hoping to gain access to this in dreams, visions, states of intoxication or hallucinations. Surrealist pictures appear correspondingly absurd, mysterious, and sometimes disturbing. The artists created fantasy creatures, distorted and deformed their pictorial objects to the point of unrecognisability and fused objects that would never be found in such a constellation in reality. Thus, the surrealists created visual borderline experiences and questioned the perception of reality. However, the audience is still highly fascinated by this approach to this day and the imagery and philosophy of Surrealism still have an impact on the art world.

The Persistence of Memory: Between Reality and Fantasy

Dalí set himself the goal of "systematising confusion" and "completely discrediting the world of reality" with his art. He achieved this to perfection with "The Persistence of Memory". He skillfully played with perception in both the composition of the images and the objects themselves, questioning what we believe to be reality.

Interestingly, he mixes reality and fiction in this painting. He constructs the upper third of the painting like a conventional landscape painting. The Museum of Modern Art notes that Dalí explained that this is the Cap de Creus peninsula on the Catalan coast. Dalí had lived nearby for a time and also had his studio space. However, he then set his absurd composition of pictorial objects against this real background. The melting clocks, in particular, capture all the attention.

A Camembert in the Sunlight as Muse

Little is known about Dalí's intention behind the depiction of the pocket watches - except that, according to his own statement, he was inspired by a Camembert cheese melting in the heat. It is not known why he added a fourth watch, which he painted in its original state. Moreover, only the back of this golden watch is visible, with some ants crawling around on it. It is also unclear why all the watches show a different time.

The amorphous white object in the centre of the painting raises at least as many questions as the watches. Although a nose, a tongue and eyelashes can be recognised, they are anatomically arranged completely incorrectly. This bizarre object offers plenty of room for speculation. Some want to see a self-portrait of Dalí in it, while others see the allusion to a foetus.

In addition to the confusing pictorial objects, the colour palette Dalí chose also creates a rather gloomy impression. Over two-thirds of the painting "The Persistence of Memory" is painted in dark colours. Brown, grey, and yellow tones dominate, while red and green are not represented at all. In addition, the few pictorial objects are very widely spaced throughout the picture. This creates a sparse and lonely atmosphere.

Plenty of Room for Interpretation - Or: What Is the Persistence of Memory Supposed to Represent?

The fantastic and psychedelic composition of sometimes more, sometimes less realistically depicted objects inevitably raises the question of what message this painting is intended to convey. However, Salvador Dalí is not known to have made any clear and comprehensive statements about the meaning of this painting. This leaves plenty of room for speculation and theorising about the symbolic content of the work.

Many of the objects that Dalí depicts have symbolic meanings in the history of art and culture. In still lifes, for example, the watches, which appear four times in Dalí's work, symbolise transience. With the melting watches, time literally passes twice.

Another symbol familiar from still lifes is the fly sitting on one of the watches. This symbolises decay and death and is, therefore, also a reference to the end of life. The olive tree - or what is left of it - can also be interpreted in this way. Trees generally symbolise growth, strength and, thus, life. However, a damaged tree without leaves and branches, like this one, is associated with loss or negative events in some dream interpretations.

Dalí also uses many other highly symbolic objects in the work "The Persistence of Memory". For example, the shiny surface in the upper right-hand corner of the picture resembles a mirror. This can symbolise vanity, but also self-awareness and truth. The ants sitting on the golden watch are also ambiguous. While they are considered industrious workers, in dream interpretation they are also sometimes interpreted as a reference to the unconscious and subconscious.

Although the number of objects in this painting is quite manageable, Salvador Dalí did not skimp on symbolism and different levels of meaning here. Whether he "saw" the painting in a hallucinatory state or in a dream is neither known nor ultimately relevant.

In the end, it is probably up to everyone to find their own interpretation of "The Persistence of Memory".