Author Archives: PAOLA BECERRA

An artistic movement centered around the 20th century, Surrealism is characterized through color choices, imagery and technique. Surrealist artist like Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso or Joan Miro used their art to express the unconscious mind, and in turn their art resulted in abstract or dreamlike imagery.  Centered around illustrating the mind’s deepest thoughts automatically when they surface, “automatism”, which involves the act of automatic recording of the thoughts and images that emerge into an artists mind. Early Surrealist challenged the constraints of consciousness and rationality in order to liberate the unconscious mind. 

Salvador Dali was born in 1904 in Figueres, Spain. In the 1920s he became in contact with artists, including Picasso and Miro. He is best known for his 1931 painting The Persistence of Memory, showing melting clocks in a landscape setting. The limp clocks, against nature give off an idea that they are soft to the touch and the shape can be changed. This small framed painting is very memorable with its dream like landscape and its giant watches dominate the foreground. This soft watch is unknown to the real world and they drape over other objects in the scenery as if they had the texture of clothing. It seems to be a desolate region, the bottom of the painting seems to be sand and toward the background a body of water can be seen. The old fashioned silver watch with a blue face draped over the barely alive tree, reading 6 o’clock. The yellow clock below it reads 6:55 o’clock, the orange clock next to it is covered in ants. The last watch is draped over a strange object that almost looks as if it incorporated a closed human eye turned to its side. 

The Surrealist revolutionary movement with its goal of destabilizing societal political cultural norms. With their interest in Frued and alternative reality they began to overturn the publics’ expectations. 

My understanding of the paining is that through the title, The Persistence of Memory, I understand the clocks as memories itself, because memories exist within a time frame. A memory is a moment in time that has already occurred, and a specific memory can be time stamped through the face of the clock. Because the clocks here are in a melting state, the memory itself is not possible. That is the purpose of  the red clock in the corner is covered with ants, the ants demonstrate that how hard we “work” . The possibility of remembering is sealed off, that is why the case is closed. 

What specifically attracted me to this painting was that I did not know what the painter was trying to express. At first glance, it is something abstract that I have no way of connecting to. I used to think that abstract art was one that only the painter could connect to, because they would be the only one who understood its meaning. However that is not the case, after observing the painting for a moment and connecting it to the title, I was able to come up with my own interpretation of the work. 

Dalí, Salvador. “Salvador Dalí. The Persistence of Memory. 1931: MoMA.” The Museum of Modern Art, www.moma.org/collection/works/79018

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