Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Completed in 1931, the “melting clocks” in Salvador Dalí's The Persistence of Memory quickly became a worldwide sensation. But what do they mean?
Dalí was a Spanish artist and filmmaker known for his mastery of Surrealism: an art movement characterized by dreamlike, fantastical twists on reality. Dalí's eccentric behavior and his eerie paintings made him the best known of the Surrealist group (which also included artists like Jean Arp, Max Ernst, Frida Kahlo, and Eileen Agar.
Surrealism grew principally out of the earlier Dada movement, which before World War I produced works of anti-art that deliberately defied reason. But Surrealism’s emphasis was not on negation but on positive expression. According to critic André Breton, Surrealism was a means of reuniting conscious and unconscious realms of experience so completely that the world of dream and fantasy would be joined to the everyday rational world in “an absolute reality, a surreality.”
Learn more from Britannica:
Who was Salvador Dalí? britannica.com/biography/Salvador-Dali
What is Surrealism? britannica.com/art/Surrealism
Who was the first person to call it Surrealism? britannica.com/question/Who-first-used-the-word-Surrealism
The history of "The Persistence of Memory": britannica.com/topic/The-Persistence-of-Memory
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#EncyclopaediaBritannica
Inspiring curiosity and the joy of learning since 1768.
Web: britannica.com
Facebook: facebook.com/Britannica
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Completed in 1931, the “melting clocks” in Salvador Dalí's The Persistence of Memory quickly became a worldwide sensation. But what do they mean?
Dalí was a Spanish artist and filmmaker known for his mastery of Surrealism: an art movement characterized by dreamlike, fantastical twists on reality. Dalí's eccentric behavior and his eerie paintings made him the best known of the Surrealist group (which also included artists like Jean Arp, Max Ernst, Frida Kahlo, and Eileen Agar.
Surrealism grew principally out of the earlier Dada movement, which before World War I produced works of anti-art that deliberately defied reason. But Surrealism’s emphasis was not on negation but on positive expression. According to critic André Breton, Surrealism was a means of reuniting conscious and unconscious realms of experience so completely that the world of dream and fantasy would be joined to the everyday rational world in “an absolute reality, a surreality.”
Learn more from Britannica:
Who was Salvador Dalí? britannica.com/biography/Salvador-Dali
What is Surrealism? britannica.com/art/Surrealism
Who was the first person to call it Surrealism? britannica.com/question/Who-first-used-the-word-Surrealism
The history of "The Persistence of Memory": britannica.com/topic/The-Persistence-of-Memory
~~~
#EncyclopaediaBritannica
Inspiring curiosity and the joy of learning since 1768.
Web: britannica.com
Facebook: facebook.com/Britannica
Twitter: twitter.com/Britannica
Instagram: instagram.com/Britannica
