The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali

Salvador Dali was a surrealist painter born in 1904 in Figueras- Spain. When he was a teenager, he became fascinated with the ideals and concepts of psychologist Sigmund Freud, which he carried over into his twenties. He liked the link between artistic works and the subconscious mind, which caused him to focus heavily on the content of his art. Dali became very aware of the things he was trying to convey to the viewer, all the while dabbling in erotic and dreamlike imagery.

One his most famous works was The Persistence of Memory, which he painted in 1931. This painting depicts several pocket watches, detached from their chains, and melting slowly on rocks and a tree branch. It is quite deceiving to the eye initially, because it is a fantasy scene placed over a very lifelike setting, the ocean. The main part of the painting is that “hard objects become inexplicably limp in this bleak and infinite dreamscape”. An interpretation of this is that things that appear strong and always purposeful come to a point where they fade away and become somewhat useless.

This painting can also be interpreted as a fanatical fear of death.The piece of flash in the centre of the picture is believed to be Dalí's self portrait. It was his way to say we are all doomed to rot in the grave. The ants symbolize the corruption, they crawl over the case of a pocket watch. Solid objects melt like cheese, it is said a plate of Camembert inspired Dali,  and seems to mean people are subject to the decay as the food they eat.

“The difference between false memories and true ones is the same as for jewels: it is always the false ones that look the most real, the most brilliant.”  

Salvador Dalí