The Persistence of Memory - La persistència de la memòria

- The Persistence of Memory (Catalan: La persistència de la memòria) sometimes

referred as "Melting Clocks", "The Soft Watches" or "The Melting Watches"
- 1931 painting by artist Salvador Dalí 
- one of the most recognizable works of Surrealism.
- First shown at the Julien Levy Gallery in 1932, since 1934 the painting has been in
the collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City, which received
it from an anonymous donor. ".
- measurements : 24 cm × 33 cm (9.5 in × 13 in)
My reaction
So when I first saw this painting I was kinda confused what is going on there. In the back of
the painting you can see some clif, beach and sea and it is really bright there but then in the
front it is suddenly really dark and black and this is the point where things start to be
confusing because you can see 3 clocks which are melting I believe and some tree and it
doesn’t make sense together and overall i get I would say pesimistic feeling from it or kin of
chaotic vibes. But overall when I’m not searching for some meaning i really like how detailed
it is painted.

- It epitomizes Dalí's theory of "softness" and "hardness", which was central to his
thinking at the time. As Dawn Adès wrote, "The soft watches are an unconscious
symbol of the relativity of space and time, a Surrealist meditation on the collapse of
our notions of a fixed cosmic order".
- This interpretation suggests that Dalí was incorporating an understanding of the world
introduced by Albert Einstein's theory of special relativity.
- Asked by Ilya Prigogine whether this was in fact the case, Dalí replied that the soft
watches were not inspired by the theory of relativity, but by the surrealist perception
of a Camembert melting in the sun.

Comparison

1. Common signs: oil-on-canvas painting, Museum of Modern Art in New

York City,
2. Differences:
Dalí: Surrealism, 193, in Moma since 1934, chaotic, pessimistic
Van Gogh: Western art, 1889, in Moma since 194, peaceful, comforting