“The Persistence of Memory (as a painting, it is primarily known as “The Melting Watches) is one of the most famous motifs of the Spanish surrealist Salvador Dalí. On one hand, the “soft”, melting clock symbolizes the inability of humans to hold on to time (and their lifetime) and on the other, it is an allusion to how the timepiece that determines everything around it suddenly loses its dictatorial power through its dissolution. A three-dimensional interpretation of this work of art can be seen in the Blue Hall. This version of the work was originally crafted for a jeweler in New York. The drop at the bottom of the clock was made of wax.
Salvador Dalí was born in 1904 in Figueras (Catalonia, Spain) and studied at the Academy of San Fernando in Madrid. He is considered one of the most creative painters of the century and an important surrealist. However, he was also a writer, a sculptor, a set designer, and an actor. His works revolve around the subjects of space, ecstasy, fever, and religion and focus on disharmonious and dissonant elements. Salvador Dalí died in 1989 in the town where he was born.
