The Persistence of Memory (1931) is one of the most iconic and recognizable paintings of Surrealism. Frequently referenced in popular culture, the small canvas (24x33 cm) is sometimes known as “Melting Clocks”, “The Soft Watches” and “The Melting Watches”. The painting depicts a dreamworld in which common objects are deformed and displayed in a bizarre and irrational way: watches, solid and hard objects appear to be inexplicably limp and melting in the desolate landscape. Dalí paints his fantastical vision in a meticulous and realistic manner: he effortlessly integrates the real and the imaginary in order “to systemize confusion and thus to help discredit completely the world of reality”.

When asked about the limp watches, the artist compared their softness to overripe cheese saying that they show “the camembert of time”. The idea of rot and decay is most evident in the gold watch on the left, which is swarmed by ants. Ants, a common motif in Dalí’s art are usually linked to decay and death. He set the scene in a desolate landscape that was likely inspired by the landscape of his homeland, the Catalan coast. The influence of the Catalan landscape also appears in another element of the painting: the artist inserts himself into the scene in the form of a strange fleshy creature in the center of the painting. According to Dalí, the self-portrait was based on a rock formation at Cap de Creus in northeast Catalonia. Some scholars have also drawn a parallel between the self-portrait and a section of Hieronymus Bosch's The Garden of Earthly Delights (1510-1515) – on the right side of the left panel Bosch depicts rocks, bushes, and small animals that resemble Dalí’s profile with the prominent nose and long eyelashes. Similar versions of this self-portrait appear in other paintings by Dalí like The Great Masturbator (1929).

The melting watch, one of Dalí’s most powerful and potent motifs, continued to play an important role in his art. Two decades after The Persistence of Memory, Dalí recreated his famous work in the painting The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory (1952-1954). As the title suggests, the painting shows the disintegration of the world depicted in the original painting, reflecting a world changed by the nuclear age. The painting showed Dalí’s growing interest in quantum physics: he added rectangular blocks that represent “the atomic power source” and missile-like objects that reference the atomic bomb. In the late stages of his career, Dalí also produced numerous sculptures of melting watches including The Persistence of Memory (ca. 1980), Profile of Time (1977-1984), Nobility of Time (1977-1984) and Dance of Time I (1979-1984).

The Persistence of Memory was first shown in 1932 at the Julien Levy Gallery in New York. In 1934, the painting was anonymously donated to the Museum of Modern Art in New York, where it remains until this day.