Salvador Dalí's 'The Persistence of Memory' (1931), with its melting clocks, is a defining Surrealist image.

Art history

ArtHistory

Why it matters

The idea in context

Dalí gave the image a deliberately strange origin story, linking the soft watches to melting Camembert. The painting works because a rigid symbol of time becomes limp and bodily, turning memory into something unstable.

Türkçe

Aynı kart, başka bir dilde.

Salvador Dalí'nin eriyen saatleriyle 'Belleğin Azmi' (1931), Sürrealizmin belirleyici imgelerinden biridir.

Dalí, yumuşak saatleri eriyen Camembert peyniriyle ilişkilendirerek tabloya bilerek tuhaf bir köken hikâyesi verdi. Eserin gücü, zamanın sert simgesini gevşek ve bedensel hâle getirmesindedir; bellek böylece sabit değil, kaygan görünür.

Source trail

Read beyond the card.

Dalí scholarship.

Background reading: The Persistence of MemoryAttribution and context are revised when stronger evidence appears. Corrections are welcome through the editorial page.
Next in the open archive'Whisky' comes from the Gaelic 'uisge beatha' — water of life.Q0927