Who Painted The Persistence of Memory? Dalí's Melting Clocks

Q: Who painted The Persistence of Memory?

The Persistence of Memory (1931) was painted by Spanish surrealist artist Salvador Dalí. Famous for its melting pocket watches draped over a branch, a ledge and a strange sleeping figure, it’s one of the best-known images of Surrealism. It hangs at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.

A surprisingly small painting

Many visitors are surprised that the painting is only about the size of a sheet of paper. Dalí painted it with tiny, precise brushstrokes, making a dreamlike scene look strangely real.

What’s in the painting

Element	Possible meaning
Melting clocks	Time feels soft and flexible in dreams and memory
Ants on an orange watch	Decay; Dalí often used ants as a symbol of death
The pale sleeping figure	Often read as a distorted self-portrait
The coastline	The cliffs of Port Lligat and Cap de Creus in Catalonia, near Dalí’s home
The dead tree	Barrenness, the passing of time

Dalí said the idea for the soft watches came while looking at a Camembert cheese melting in the summer heat. He described his method as “paranoiac-critical,” turning dreamlike associations into exact images.

What is Surrealism?

Surrealism, launched by writer André Breton in 1924, aimed to free the unconscious mind, inspired by the dream theories of Sigmund Freud. Other surrealists include René Magritte, Max Ernst and Joan Miró.

Salvador Dalí in brief

Born in Figueres, Catalonia, in 1904
Famous for his upturned mustache and flamboyant public image
Worked in film (with Luis Buñuel, and on Hitchcock’s Spellbound), sculpture and design; he even designed the Chupa Chups lollipop logo
His museum, the Dalí Theatre-Museum, is in Figueres

A later version

In 1954, Dalí painted The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory, revisiting the scene in the age of atomic physics.

For more art history, see who painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling. For the science of sleep and dreams that fascinated surrealists, read why we dream.