The Persistence of Memory

Painting by Salvador Dalí (1931)

This article is about the painting by Salvador Dalí. For other uses, see The Persistence of Memory (disambiguation).

The Persistence of Memory

Artist| Salvador Dalí
Year| 1931 (1931)
Catalogue| 79018
Medium| Oil on canvas
Movement| Surrealism
Dimensions| 24 cm × 33 cm (9.5 in × 13 in)
Location| Museum of Modern Art, New York City
Owner| Museum of Modern Art
Accession| 162.1934

The Persistence of Memory (Catalan: La persistència de la memòria, Spanish: La persistencia de la memoria) is a 1931 painting by artist Salvador Dalí and one of the most recognizable works of Surrealism. First shown at the Julien Levy Gallery in 1932, since 1934 the painting has been in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City, which received it from an anonymous donor. It is widely recognized and frequently referred to in popular culture,[1] and sometimes referred to by more descriptive titles, such as "The Melting Clocks", "The Soft Watches" or "The Melting Watches".[2]

## Analysis

[edit]

The well-known surrealist piece introduced the image of the soft melting pocket watch.[3] It epitomizes Dalí's theory of "softness" and "hardness", which was central to his thinking at the time. As Dawn Adès wrote, "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".[4] This interpretation 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 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.[5]

The year prior to painting the Persistence of Memory, Dali developed his "paranoiac-critical method," deliberately inducing psychotic hallucinations to inspire his art. He remarked, "The difference between a madman and me is that I am not mad." This quote highlights Dali's awareness of his mental state. Despite his engagement in activities that could be seen as insane, Dali maintained that he was not actually mad.[6]

External videos

Dali's The Persistence of Memory[7]
Salvador Dalí. The Persistence of Memory. 1931[8]

It is possible to recognize a human figure in the middle of the composition, in the strange "monster" (with much texture near its face, and much contrast and tone in the picture) that Dalí used in several contemporary pieces to represent himself – the abstract form becoming something of a self-portrait, reappearing frequently in his work. The creature seems to be based on a figure from the Paradise section of Hieronymus Bosch's The Garden of Earthly Delights, which Dalí had studied.[9] It 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 has one closed eye with several eyelashes, suggesting that it is also in a dream state. The iconography may refer to a dream that Dalí himself had experienced, and 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 watch at the bottom left of the painting is covered in ants; Dalí often used ants in his paintings as a symbol of decay.[10][11] A fly sits on the watch 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"[12] to depict imagery more likely to be found in dreams than in waking consciousness.

The craggy rocks to the right represent the 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 [ca],[13] a mountain in the northeast corner of Catalonia.

## Versions

[edit]

The Shanghai copy of the sculpture Nobility of Time

Dalí returned to the theme of this painting with the variation The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory (1954), showing his earlier famous work systematically fragmenting into smaller component elements, and a series of rectangular blocks which reveal further imagery through the gaps between them, implying something beneath the surface of the original work; this work is now in the Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida, while the original Persistence of Memory remains at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Dalí also produced various lithographs and sculptures on the theme of soft watches late in his career. Some of these sculptures are Persistence of Memory, Nobility of Time, Profile of Time, and Three Dancing Watches.[14]

The Gala-Salvador Foundation representation of the Persistence of Memory by D'Argenta

## See also

[edit]

* Spain portal

* List of works by Salvador Dalí
* Entropy (arrow of time)
* Apparatus and Hand
* The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Dali, The Flamboyant Surrealist". The Vindicator. 28 January 1989. Retrieved 20 June 2011. "The death of Salvador Dali evokes the image of his most famous painting, Persistence of Memory."
2. ^ "The Persistence of Memory, 1931 - Salvador Dali". Wikiart. 2023-12-12. "Article": Lines 2-3. Retrieved 2024-06-23. "Frequently referenced in popular culture, the small canvas (24x33 cm) is sometimes known as "Melting Clocks", "The Soft Watches" and "The Melting Watches"."
3. ^ Bradbury, Kirsten (1999). Essential Dalí. Dempsey Parr. ISBN 978-1-84084-509-9. "It includes the first appearance of what is perhaps his most enduring image: the 'soft watch'."
4. ^ Ades, Dawn. Dalí. Thames and Hudson, 1982.
5. ^ Salvador Dali (2008). The Dali Dimension: Decoding the Mind of a Genius (DVD). Media 3.14-TVC-FGSD-IRL-AVRO. "Surprisingly, Dalí said that his soft watches were not inspired by the theory of relativity, but by the surrealist perception of a Camembert cheese melting in the sun. The painter insisted on this explanation in his reply letter to Prigogine, who took it as Dalí's reaction to Einstein's coldly mathematical theory."
6. ^ "Salvador Dali". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 2024-05-31.
7. ^ "Dali's The Persistence of Memory". Khan Academy. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
8. ^ "Salvador Dalí. The Persistence of Memory. 1931". MoMa. Retrieved December 31, 2012.
9. ^ De la Croix, Horst; Tansey, Richard G.; Kirkpatrick, Diane (1991). Gardner's Art Through the Ages (9th ed.). Thomson/Wadsworth. p. 984. ISBN 0-15-503769-2.
10. ^ "Dalinian symbolism I Salvador Dalí I Espace Dalí". daliparis.com. Archived from the original on 25 September 2014. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
11. ^ "MoMA I Salvador Dalí. The Persistence of Memory". moma.org. Museum of Modern Art (New York). Retrieved 24 May 2023.
12. ^ Mical, Thomas (October 22, 2005). Surrealism and Architecture. Psychology Press. ISBN 9780415325196. Retrieved October 22, 2019 - via Google Books.
13. ^ Salvador Dali. Surreal years. Art, paintings, and works. Commentary on 40+ works of art by Salvador Dalí.
14. ^ "Dalis Sculpture Editions".`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

## External links

[edit]

* The Persistence of Memory on Authentic Society
* The Persistence of Memory in the MoMA Online Collection

Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Persistence of Memory.

* v
* t
* e

Salvador Dalí

List of works

Paintings|

* List of works
* Landscape Near Figueras (1910)
* Vilabertran (1913)
* Cabaret Scene (1922)
* Portrait of My Father (1925)
* Young Woman at a Window (1925)
* The Basket of Bread (1926)
* Apparatus and Hand (1927)
* The Lugubrious Game (1929)
* The First Days of Spring (1929)
* The Accommodations of Desire (1929)
* The Great Masturbator (1929)
* The Invisible Man (1929–1932)
* The Persistence of Memory (1931)
* The Ghost of Vermeer of Delft Which Can Be Used as a Table (1934)
* Morphological Echo (1934–1936)
* A Chemist Lifting with Extreme Precaution the Cuticle of a Grand Piano (1936)
* Couple with Their Heads Full of Clouds (1936, 1937)
* Soft Construction with Boiled Beans (Premonition of Civil War) (1936)
* The Burning Giraffe (1937)
* Metamorphosis of Narcissus (1937)
* Swans Reflecting Elephants (1937)
* Apparition of Face and Fruit Dish on a Beach (1938)
* The Enigma of Hitler (1939)
* Shirley Temple, The Youngest, Most Sacred Monster of the Cinema in Her Time (1939)
* The Face of War (1940)
* Slave Market with the Disappearing Bust of Voltaire (1940)
* Geopoliticus Child Watching the Birth of the New Man (1943)
* Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening (1944)
* Basket of Bread (1945)
* The Apotheosis of Homer (1945)
* The Temptation of St. Anthony (1946)
* The Elephants (1948)
* Cartel de Don Juan Tenorio (1949)
* Leda Atomica (1949)
* The Madonna of Port Lligat (1949)
* Christ of Saint John of the Cross (1951)
* Galatea of the Spheres (1952)
* The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory (1952–1954)
* The Colossus of Rhodes (1954)
* Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubus) (1954)
* Young Virgin Auto-Sodomized by the Horns of Her Own Chastity (1954)
* The Sacrament of the Last Supper (1955)
* Living Still Life (1956)
* The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus (1958–59)
* The Ecumenical Council (1959–60)
* Galacidalacidesoxyribonucleicacid (1963)
* La Gare de Perpignan (1965)
* Tuna Fishing (1966–67)
* The Hallucinogenic Toreador (1968–1970)
* La Toile Daligram (1972)
* Dalí Seen from the Back Painting Gala from the Back Eternalised by Six Virtual Corneas Provisionally Reflected by Six Real Mirrors (1972–1973)
* Lincoln in Dalivision (1977)
* The Swallow's Tail (1983)

Painting series|

* The Seven Lively Arts (1944; 1956)

Other artworks|

* Lobster Telephone (1936)
* Lobster dress (1937)
* Mae West Lips Sofa (1937)
* Champagne Standard Lamps (1938)
* Rainy Taxi (1938)
* A Logician Devil (1951)
* Nieuw Amsterdam (1974)
* Salvador Dali's Tarot (1985)

Writings|

* Giraffes on Horseback Salad (1937)
* The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí (1942)
* Dali's Mustache (1954) (with Philippe Halsman)
* Être Dieu (1985)

Films|

* Un Chien Andalou (1929)
* L'Age d'Or (1930)
* Spellbound (1945, dream sequence)
* Destino (1946, completed 2003)

Set design
and costumes|

* Mariana Pineda (1927 production)

Museums|

* Dalí Theatre and Museum (Dalí·Jewels)
* Gala Dalí Castle House-Museum
* Salvador Dalí House Museum
* Salvador Dalí Museum
* Dalí Paris
* Dalí Universe
* Morohashi Museum of Modern Art

Related|

* Gala Dalí (wife)
* Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation
* Paranoiac-critical method
* Salvador Dalí and dance
* Chupa Chups
* Dalí Atomicus (1948 photograph)
* Salvador Dalí (1966 film)
* The Death of Salvador Dali (2005 film)
* Little Ashes (2008 film)
* Midnight in Paris (2011 film)
* Dalíland (2022 film)
* Daaaaaalí! (2023 film)
* "Salvador Dalí" (song)
* 2919 Dali (asteroid)
* Dali crater
* Portlligat (village)
* Salvador Dalí Desert
* Dalí cross

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template