Salvador Dalí’s The Persistence of Memory presents a dreamland like no other. Painted with exacting realism, its famous clocks, which the artist compared to softening camembert, allude to the elasticity of time and memory, both of which fascinated him. The central figure, saddled by one such timepiece, invites the viewer to consider the eccentric Dalí’s psychological landscape beyond the canvas, while the background calls to mind his Catalonian homeland. When asked which contemporary painters he admired, Dalí once said, “First Dalí; after Dalí, Picasso; after this, no others. . . . The two geniuses of modern painting.” While he was ever a mustachioed provocateur, Dalí is now widely considered a leading inspiration in the 20th century's Surrealist art movement.
