Description

The Persistence of Memory is a small painting with dimensions of 24 cm×33 cm and was
executed by Salvador Dali in 1931 during the surrealism movement . This painting is a sum of
landscape ,portrait and still life creating a coherent link among the three genres.

Composition:
The elements are arranged in an inverted triangle that guides the eye movement through the
painting. The focal point is the dead hybrid of human and bird.

Color:
The color palette is restricted to earth tones to depict the barren land and create contrast with
the white dead semi human semi bird and the white melting clocks .

Texture :
The melting clock and dead white creature have a dreamy and curvy texture and the angular
distant cliffs impasto creates a pleasant visual interest.

Symbolism and Surreal Images:

The melting characteristics of cheese is attributed to the clock which gives a surreal impact and
texture. The hybrid between human and bird implies a dreamy state .

The focal point is the dead humanlike bird

which implies a nightmarish portrait of him in a dream. The melting clocks are symbols of time
liquidity ;meaning , time has no limits and transcends the perception. Time fuses into the
landscape of the subconscious. The mind and time are fused. Between the landscape and him ,
there are no boundaries.
The real photographic style and surreal content creates a hybrid and strange painting. This
characteristic implies the fusion between reality and dream.

This painting reminds me of :

He was influenced by the renaissance painter Jan Vermeer's contrast between light elements
and dark background in the Girl with the Pearl Earings and the realist painter Gustave Courbet
who also used dark background and lighter elements in the artist studio .