Salvador Dali painted The Persistence of Memory in 1931, and today it is regarded among the 20th century’s most acclaimed and remembered paintings. This painting served as a means of introducing Surrealism in conventional America. The reason this painting has always been increasingly appealing, and has both encouraged and perplexed analysis and explanation is because Dali has effectively combined the dreamlike and the everyday, the illogical and symbolic, technology and nature. Even the hardness and softness in the painting create confusion. However, according to the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), these “baffling” qualities of the painting, especially the watches, are its “highest praise.” The painting is among Dali’s works that he himself referred to as his “hand painted dream photographs.” The audience of today can read the paining as landscape, self-portraits and a self-portrait, all at the same time.
The Persistence of Memory is a small-sized oil-on-canvas painting and is not really as big as many imagine it to be. The painting also tends to have a “jewel-like intensity” (Anfam 420). Dali has visibly set the renowned melting watches in the landscape of the painting. The landscape of the painting is actually Port Lligat, a Mediterranean village that where Dali lived most of his life and often included in his paintings. This painting like many of the Dali’s other surrealist paintings, which he referred to as “hand-painted dream photographs” has explicit, sharp details and the brushwork is almost invisible. In fact, the painting depicts “autonomy of color and brushstroke” (Anfam 421). “[The] immaculate precision” (Secrest) of the painting has been particularly admired, which makes its dreamlike scene seem realistic, and can be regarded as Dali’s homage to his teacher Jan Vermeer, who was legendary master of photorealism.
There are a lot of alluring and eloquent images in The Persistence of Memory; however, the melting watches are perhaps the most fascinating and significant of them all. Primarily, the melting watches in the painting act as compelling symbols of “[t]ime’s wingèd chariot hurrying near” (Marvell). However, the painting seems to refute their content, and the way they are painted so softly makes them even more meaningful. By depicting the coming apart of machine and time, Dali is challenging the audience’s belief in a logical, natural, and organized world. It is apparent that the watches are a representation of time itself. According to Nathaniel Harris, by placing these watches Dani conveys the message that human beings are universally preoccupied with memory and time (Harris). The watches also seem to represent the fact that man is obsessed with “the nature of time” (Wilson). The melting of the watches is perhaps a representation of “the relativity of space and time” (Ades).
A rather characterless and formless shape occupies that is lying on the beach occupies the center of The Persistence of Memory. Based on Dali’s The Great Masturbator (1929), this figure or profile that looks like a distorted face with no identifiable features apart from an that is closed with oversized eyelashes is actually a self portrait. This figure seems to be asleep and this further emphasizes the fact that the landscape in which it is lying is actually a dream world. This sleeping figure is perhaps suggesting that falling asleep is the only way to access this dreamscape depicted in this painting. This figure has a shape almost like an embryo, which is suggesting the fact that Dalí was fascinated with Frued’s psychoanalytic theme of people unconsciously remembering memories from their time inside their mother’s uterus. Considering the “embryo-like shape” of this figure, the title of the painting could be referring to prenatal memories (Moorhouse 49).
Like Dali’s other paintings from this time, the ants and flies in The Persistence of Memory are symbols of degeneration and deterioration. Traditionally, in the history of art, Dali’s painting has typically been positioned as a still life. Dali has painted the insects so precisely that they seem “almost machine-like,” which contradicts the rest of the context of the painting since machines like the watches seem to have taken up the biological characteristics of living beings. In the cultures of the West, the olive tree has traditionally been recognized as a symbol of hope, and peace, and it was an important image of Dali as well. Surprisingly, Dali has painted a dead olive tree in this painting, bolstering the feeling of death that this painting evokes. Considering the facts that the tree is devoid of leaves, the watches are useless, the sleeping figure is lifeless, and the beach is barren, the landscape of this painting may as well be a nightmare.
Finally, one of the more bewildering aspects of the painting is the two “steps, the larger one in the lower-left corner, and the less prominent one on the top-left corner. Steps such as these can be found on several other paintings by Dali, where they visually convey the meaning of dream symbols derived by Sigmund Freud. According to Freud, steps in a dreamscape represent the sexual act. Within the context of the painting, Freud’s explanation of the steps makes sense since hardness and softness, manmade and natural objects have a contrasting effect in the painting. Freud also explains that smooth walls, like those of the steps, express one’s desire to return to childhood, and this makes sense too if the title of the painting is indeed referring to prenatal memories. However, if The Persistence of Memory is compared to Dali’s other paintings; these steps may as well be the bases of monuments.
Like any other surrealist painting, deciphering the true meaning of Dali Persistence of Memory and the symbols he has depicted in the painting is not an easy task. The passage of time, ultimately leading to death, is perhaps the most obvious message that Dali is conveying through this painting, which he represents by the melting watches, the sleeping or perhaps dead self portrait, and the other symbols of degeneration and deterioration. Viewers can also read the mysterious objects that Dali has depicted in his painting as symbols for one’s deepest desires, whether sexual or return to one’s childhood. In fact, viewers could subconsciously interpret Dali’s painting in multiple ways. However, the bottom line is that through this painting, Dali is actually directly playing into the Surrealist purpose of resting upon the belief in the omnipotence of dreams.
Works Cited
Ades, Dawn. Dalí. Thames and Hudson, 1982. Print.
Anfam, David A. Techniques of the Great Masters of Art. New Burlington Books, 1987. Print.
Harris, Nathaniel. The Life and Works of Dali. Paragon Books, 2002. Print.
Marvell, Andrew. "To his Coy Mistress." Luminarium: Anthology of English Literature. Luminarium: Anthology of English Literature. Web. 19 Apr 2013.
Moorhouse, Paul. Dalí. Brompton Books, 1990. Print.
Secrest, Meryle. Salvador Dali. New York: Plume, 1987. Print.
Wilson, Simon. Salvador Dali. The Tate Gallery, 1990. Print.
