Which Spanish surrealist painted The Persistence of Memory in 1931?

Salvador Dalí painted The Persistence of Memory in 1931. The small oil painting is one of Surrealism’s most recognizable images, showing soft, distorted watches draped across a stark coastal landscape and a strange biomorphic form.

Dalí’s melting clocks are often interpreted as a challenge to the reliability of measured time, although the artist did not provide a single definitive explanation. The dreamlike scene reflects Surrealist interest in the unconscious, irrational imagery, and the unsettling logic of dreams. Dalí’s precise, almost photographic technique makes the impossible objects appear unusually convincing.

The painting was first exhibited at the Julien Levy Gallery in New York in 1932. It was sold for $250 and entered the Museum of Modern Art’s collection in 1934, where it remains. Common alternate names include The Melting Clocks and The Soft Watches; these describe the imagery but are not the painting’s official title.