Salvador Dali - The Persistence of , 1931

• Painted in 1931

  Oil on canvas

  Surrealist
• Critical quote


  "The soft watches are an unconscious symbol of the relativity of space and time, a Surrealist meditation on the collapse of our notions of a fixed cosmic order". - Dawn Adès (art historian)
• Some interpretations suggests that Dalí was incorporating an understanding of the world introduced by Albert Einstein's theory of special relativity. Asked by Ilya Prigogine whether this was in fact the case, Dalí replied that the soft watches were not inspired by the theory of relativity, but by the surrealist perception of a Camembert melting in the sun.
• It is possible to recognize a human figure in the middle of the composition, in the strange "monster" that Dalí used in several contemporary pieces to represent himself
• The creature


  An abstract form becoming a self-portrait, reappearing frequently in his work
• Figure from the Paradise section of Hieronymus Bosch's The Garden of Earthly Delights


  • The creature is based on this figure
• The creature


  Can be read as a "fading" creature, one that often appears in dreams where the dreamer cannot pinpoint the creature's exact form and composition
• The creature's closed eye with several eyelashes


  Suggests that the creature is also in a dream state
• The iconography may refer to a dream that Dalí himself had experienced
• The clocks may symbolize the passing of time as one experiences it in sleep or the persistence of time in the eyes of the dreamer
• The orange clock at the bottom left of the painting is covered in ants. Dalí often used ants in his paintings as a symbol of decay.
• Another insect that is present in the painting is a fly, which sits on the watch that is next to the orange watch. The fly appears to be casting a human shadow as the sun hits it. The Persistence of Memory employs "the exactitude of realist painting techniques" to depict imagery more likely to be found in dreams than in waking consciousness.
• The craggy rocks to the right represent a tip of Cap de Creus peninsula in north-eastern Catalonia. Many of Dalí's paintings were inspired by the landscapes of his life in Catalonia. The strange and foreboding shadow in the foreground of this painting is a reference to Puig Pení
• During the 1920s much art was being influenced by theories such as those of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, who was interested in revealing our subconscious fears and desires. Taboo thoughts relating to sex, impotence and castration were often a focus and this work by Spanish artist, Dalí, epitomises his Surrealist period.
• The objects are incongruous: clocks should be flat faced but in this instance they are ‘melted’ and misshapen. The illogical content seems at odds with Dalí’s precisionist technique. It’s a dream state that we have all experienced – one in which incongruous objects, people and places seem to juxtapose, metamorphose, and confuse