A 1931 oil painting by Salvador Dalí, and emblematic of the surrealism movement. The painting depicts a dreamlike landscape where reality does not work the same way: among other things, clocks and other solid objects appear to be melting, including one above a figure that doesn't seem to be human or animal. Dalí famously painted this when sleep-deprived; when asked if the painting was inspired by Albert Einstein's then-recent theory of relativity, he replied it was inspired by the sight of melting cheese.
Dalí returned to this concept with 1954's The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory, which recreated the landscape (to a point) before distorting it further with new themes of quantum mechanics. He would also utilize the concept of melting clocks several more times.
The painting currently hangs in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. It, and melting clocks in general, are a popular choice for references to Dali himself or for surrealism as a whole.
Tropes in this painting:
- Animal Motifs: Ants are gnawing away at the leftmost, orange watch while a fly sits on another, symbolizing rot and decay of memory.
- Flower Motifs: The denuded tree is an olive, which has historically symbolized wisdom and enlightenment. A bare olive tree thus means the absence of it, fitting for a surreal dreamscape.
- Orange/Blue Contrast: These two prominent colors in the painting show its heightened take on reality. The landscape and one of the clocks are orange, while the water and the other clocks are tinted blue. It was inspired by the Catalan seaside.
- Reality Is Out to Lunch: One of the seminal works of surrealism, featuring melting clocks, mysterious creatures, and an ominous landscape.
- Rule of Symbolism: The floppy clocks are suggested to mean something in the context of the title, be it the fluid nature of our dreams, the instability of our memories, or something else.
- The X of Y: The Persistence of Memory.
- World of Chaos: It depicts melting clocks (one of them resting on what could be a blanket or a dead bird) being eaten away by ants. There's also a bared olive tree sprouting from a brown wooden table.
