La
persistencia de la memoria, arguably the most famous of Dali’s works, displays
a humanoid figure in the foreground, presumably in a placid dream-state, and
drooping pocket watches, one of which is swarmed by ant-like creatures. A
second drooping watch lies, semi-solid beside the first, a third hangs limply over
the branch of a tree, while the last is wrapped round the humanoid creature, as
a sleeping child with his blanket. In the distance, the outline of craggy rocks,
with an accompanying reflection from a body of water below, (the rocks were said
to represent the tip of the Cap de Creus peninsula, a familiar sight in Dali’s
childhood, by Dali himself) juxtaposes an undefined, nebulous expanse of space.
The work, is an oil painting, rendered on canvas, with the dimensions 9.5 In by
13 In, the size of your average laptop screen. It has been displayed at the Museum
of Modern Art in New York since 1934. This is the piece of art which I intend to study for my final essay.