Comments on: Feel Art Again: The Persistence of Memory

By: Mel ツ

Mel ツ — Fri, 22 May 2009 12:27:00 +0000

Hi. I am a year ten visual art student in Australia. I am currently writing an interpretation and evaluation essay on this painting.

The first time I saw this image, I thought it was bazaar and pointless, but when I began writing the essay, I came to appreciate the thought and planning that went into it.

Dali says in his book ‘Diary of a Genius’ that he was inspired by Camembert cheese melting on his page as he wasted his days doing virtually nothing. He said that, to him, time was irrelevant and melted away without him even noticing. This inspired him to paint ‘The Persistence of Memory’.

I have been investigating many elements that are present in the painting, however I found one in particular that I found particularly intriguing. A diagonal line of shadowing runs between the cliff face and the foreground. This, some say, represents the border between what is real (Port Lligat, Spain- Dali’s hometown) and his subconscious thoughts (the ‘melting’ clocks and distorted corpse). How clever?!

Anyway, this fascinated me and helped me appreciate art more. I hope it does the same for you.

By: Sheldon Siegel

Sheldon Siegel — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 16:55:33 +0000

I was never much of a Dali fan but I always liked the backgrounds of his paintings.
To me, this work would look better without the clocks. There is something very depressing about his work.

By: joehawkins

joehawkins — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 16:50:09 +0000

i had the good fortune to visit dali museum… a must do if in the area. didn’t his work turn quite religious? BTW– loved elizabutt’s comments.

By: Adam Richter

Adam Richter — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 16:40:24 +0000

Great comment by elizabutt! This is one of my favorite paintings of all time. It is haunting and yet makes me feel peaceful.

By: Roger

Roger — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 15:56:38 +0000

I’ve always subscribed to the ‘relativity’ school of interpretation on this painting. We should launch a movement for a National Melting Clock Month. BTW, anyone who hasn’t checked out the Dali museum in St. Pete, FL should go – the scale of his work is amazing.

Also, elizabutt, (for what it’s worth) I’ve always thought of it as a desert lakeshore. So, you could be right twice. ;-)

By: SaiSai

SaiSai — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 15:16:28 +0000

I’ve always felt that it was memory that was melting time, making it irrelivant and floppy. But I like elizabutt’s comment about the exposed nature of the body parts, you feel it especially with the barrenness of the landscape. I’ve definately felt that memories have done that to me; bent time, laid me barren.

By: elizabutt

elizabutt — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 14:55:49 +0000

I guess that’s more of a beach than a desert. My memory is obviously not that persistent.

Also, the humanish creature is exposed and useless: pinned under his own defunct invention.

By: elizabutt

elizabutt — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 14:49:55 +0000

Have you ever seen Dali’s documentary film about himself, “Dali, a Soft Self Portrait”? Pretty crazy stuff, but thoroughly enjoyable. I first saw it in a high school art class. I think the teacher was trying to mess with the 75% of his students who were frequently stoned during class.

As for the painting, I think Dali always wanted to make people sproing outside their comfort zone – nothing should be predictable and/or expected (not even a moustache). This work has always served to remind me that measuring time is a completely human invention – a very constraining one. The desert will still be the desert even if timepieces cease to exist; the ants will persist in their tasks regardless of how many minutes ’til 7:00 it is.

By: Vorpal

Vorpal — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 14:12:49 +0000

Another reference is the Sea of Time in the movie Yellow Submarine. To me it’s a dream dialectic between nature and science.