The Persistence of Memory
The Persistence of Memory | |
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Artist | Salvador Dalí |
Year | 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 (
Analysis
The well-known
External videos | |
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Smarthistory - Dali's The Persistence of Memory[5] | |
Salvador Dalí. The Persistence of Memory. 1931[6] |
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.[7] 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. One can observe that the creature has one closed eye with several eyelashes, suggesting that the creature 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 clock at the bottom left of the painting is covered in ants. Dalí often used ants in his paintings as a symbol of decay.[8][9] Another insect that is present in the painting is a fly, which sits on the watch that is 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"[10] 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 .[11]
Versions
Dalí returned to the theme of this painting with the variation
See also
- List of works by Salvador Dalí
- Entropy (arrow of time)
- Apparatus and Hand
- The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory
References
- ^ Staff editor (28 January 1989). "Dali, The Flamboyant Surrealist". The Vindicator. Retrieved 20 June 2011.
The death of Salvador Dali evokes the image of his most famous painting, Persistence of Memory.
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has generic name (help) - ISBN 978-1-84084-509-9.
It includes the first appearance of what is perhaps his most enduring image: the 'soft watch'.
- ^ Ades, Dawn. Dalí. Thames and Hudson, 1982.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Dali's The Persistence of Memory". Smarthistory at Khan Academy. Retrieved December 31, 2012.
- ^ "Salvador Dalí. The Persistence of Memory. 1931". MoMa. Retrieved December 31, 2012.
- ISBN 0-15-503769-2.
- ^ "Dalinian symbolism I Salvador Dalí I Espace Dalí". daliparis.com. Archived from the original on 25 September 2014. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
- ^ "MoMA I Salvador Dalí. The Persistence of Memory". moma.org. Museum of Modern Art (New York). Retrieved 24 May 2023.
- ISBN 9780415325196. Retrieved October 22, 2019 – via Google Books.
- ^ Salvador Dali. Surreal years. Art, paintings, and works. Commentary on 40+ works of art by Salvador Dalí.
- ^ "Dalis Sculpture Editions". Archived from the original on July 8, 2011. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
External links
- The Persistence of Memory on Authentic Society
- The Persistence of Memory in the MoMA Online Collection