Who painted The Persistence of Memory, the 1931 artwork with melting clocks?

Salvador Dalí painted The Persistence of Memory, the 1931 Surrealist artwork famous for its melting clocks.

The small oil painting presents a dreamlike coastal landscape with soft watches draped over branches, a platform, and an organic form in the foreground. Its unsettling stillness and distorted objects exemplify Surrealism’s interest in dreams, subconscious imagery, and unexpected combinations.

Dalí was born in Figueres, Catalonia, in 1904 and became one of the most recognizable figures associated with Surrealism. He was known for highly precise technique applied to bizarre or irrational scenes. The painting’s clocks have often been interpreted in connection with the instability of time, though Dalí resisted simple explanations.

The work entered the collection of New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1934. It is sometimes called “Melting Clocks,” but that is an informal description rather than the official title. A related version, The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory, was painted decades later.