14 Intriguing Details About Salvador Dalì’s ‘The Persistence Of Memory’

Salvador Dalì’s The Persistence of Memory stands as the most iconic artwork by the unconventional Spanish artist. While its melting clocks are unforgettable, the story behind its creation might surprise you.

1. The Persistence of Memory was brought to life using Salvador Dalì’s unique “paranoiac-critical method.”

In 1931, around the time the painting was created, Dalì mastered his “paranoiac-critical method.” He would induce a hallucinatory, meditative state to produce what he described as “hand-painted dream photographs.”

“I am often startled, even frightened, by the images that emerge on my canvas,” Dalì remarked, describing his unique process. “I record the impulses of my subconscious and dreams with unwavering precision, without conscious intervention.”

2. The scenery in the painting is drawn from Dalì’s early years.

Dalì's Catalan roots deeply influenced his art. The summer home of his family, nestled near Mount Pani (or Mount Panelo), repeatedly inspired his work, as seen in pieces like View of Cadaqués with Shadow of Mount Pani. In The Persistence of Memory, the shadow is believed to represent Mount Pani, with Cape Creus and its rugged coastline forming the backdrop.

3. Einstein’s groundbreaking theories might have inspired Dalì ...

The Persistence of Memory has fueled extensive scholarly discussion, with experts offering various interpretations. Some argue that the drooping clocks in the artwork reflect Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. As Dawn Ades notes in her book Dalì and Surrealism, “the soft watches symbolize the fluidity of space and time, emerging from the subconscious.”

4. ... However, Dalì’s own explanation for the imagery in The Persistence of Memory was far more whimsical.

Dalì revealed that the inspiration for the distorted clocks came from a wheel of Camembert cheese: “Let it be known that Salvador Dalì’s iconic limp watches are simply the tender, extravagant, and solitary paranoiac-critical Camembert of time and space,” he famously stated.

As Tim McNeese explains in Salvador Dalì, the artist had already completed the background of The Persistence of Memory when he consumed “some exquisite Camembert cheese, which had become soft and runny.” The cheese lingered in his thoughts as he set aside his brushes. McNeese recounts, “Just before bed, a vivid image struck him. Much like the melting cheese, Dalì envisioned clocks dripping and warping. This vision reignited his creativity, prompting him to pick up his paints late into the night.” Soon after, the iconic melting clocks were born.

5. The insects depicted in the artwork symbolize one of the artist’s deepest fears.

Dalì harbored an intense phobia of insects, a theme recurrent in his creations—The Persistence of Memory included. In the painting, ants are seen crawling over one of the clocks. This terror stemmed from a childhood memory where he attempted to save a bat his cousin had injured. Placing it in a washhouse bucket, he returned the next day to find it “still clinging to life, covered in frantic ants, its agonized face revealing tiny teeth resembling an elderly woman’s,” as he recalled in The Secret Life of Salvador Dalì.

6. The Persistence of Memory might also serve as a self-portrait.

The drooping figure at the heart of the painting is thought to depict Dalì, given his penchant for self-representation. His earlier works, such as Self-Portrait in the Studio, Cubist Self-Portrait, Self-Portrait with “L’Humanité”, and Self-Portrait (Figueres), reflect this recurring theme.

7. The artwork’s size is surprisingly modest.

Despite its profound philosophical impact, The Persistence of Memory is a modestly sized oil-on-canvas piece, measuring just 9.5 by 13 inches.

8. The Persistence of Memory catapulted the 28-year-old artist to stardom.

Dalì started painting at the age of 6 and flirted with recognition early in his career, collaborating with Spanish filmmaker Luis Buñuel on avant-garde shorts like Un Chien Andalou and L’Age d’Or. However, his true breakthrough came with his iconic surrealist masterpiece. The 1932 exhibition of The Persistence of Memory at New York City’s Julien Levy Gallery propelled him into the spotlight, captivating both the press and the public.

9. An anonymous benefactor ensured the painting remained in New York.

Following its gallery debut, an anonymous buyer purchased the artwork for $250 and gifted it to the Museum of Modern Art in 1934. For over eight decades, it has been a cornerstone of MoMA’s exhibits.

10. The Persistence of Memory has a thematic follow-up (of sorts).

In 1954, Dalì returned to the concept of The Persistence of Memory to create a new piece, The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory. Also referred to as The Chromosome of a Highly-coloured Fish's Eye Starting the Harmonious Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory, this oil-on-canvas work is thought to depict the breakdown of his earlier masterpiece into its fundamental atomic components.

11. Between these two works, Dalì’s artistic focus evolved significantly.

While The Persistence of Memory and The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory share similar themes, their distinctions highlight the transformation in Dalì’s artistic preoccupations. The first painting emerged during his Freudian phase, a period marked by his fascination with Sigmund Freud’s theories on dream interpretation. By the 1950s, when the latter was created, Dalì’s inspiration had shifted to the advancements of atomic science.

“During my surrealist years, I aimed to craft an iconography of the inner world—the realm of the marvelous, inspired by my father Freud,” Dalì stated. “I achieved that. Today, the external world—the domain of physics—has surpassed psychology. My father now is [theoretical physicist] Dr. Heisenberg.”

Freud, the pioneer of psychoanalysis, was generally unimpressed by the surrealists, believing they were too deliberate in their art and misunderstood his ideas. Dalì, however, stood apart. During their 1938 meeting, Dalì eagerly sketched a portrait of the 82-year-old Freud, who remarked, “That boy looks like a fanatic.” Dalì was thrilled by the comment, as well as Freud’s observation that his The Metamorphosis of Narcissus held significance for psychoanalytic study. Freud later admitted, “I had considered the surrealists to be utter fools, but that young Spaniard, with his earnest, fanatical gaze and undeniable skill, has altered my opinion.”

12. Dalì continued to explore the motif of melting clocks in additional works.

During the 1970s, Dalì reimagined his iconic soft timepieces in sculptures such as Dance of Time I, II, and III, Nobility of Time, and Profile of Time. He also incorporated them into various lithographs.

13. The Persistence of Memory is known by several alternative titles.

This iconic work is also referred to as Soft Watches, Droopy Watches, The Persistence of Time, and Melting Clocks.

14. The painting has left a lasting mark on popular culture.

The Persistence of Memory has been referenced across various TV shows, including The Simpsons, Futurama, Hey Arnold, Doctor Who, and Sesame Street. It has also made appearances in the animated film Looney Tunes: Back in Action, the comic strip The Far Side, and video games such as EarthBound and Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced. Additionally, it was humorously recreated to comment on the NFL’s DeflateGate controversy.