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Salvador Dali Research Paper

1507 Words7 Pages

Dalí the Surrealist The Surrealism movement brought out the dreamer in everyone in the 1920s. Having the freedom to express reality from dreaming, artists of all trades were able to express what they envisioned. Salvador Dalí, a Spanish painter, is one of the most recognized Surrealists within the movement. Not only did he paint, but he also worked on sculpting, photography, and even worked with Walt Disney on making a short film. Dalí was born on May 11, 1904, in the town of Figueres, Catalonia, Spain. While growing up, he studied art in different parts of Spain due to either being expelled or suspended from the art school he was in for either protesting or having his very flamboyant and extravagant personality getting in the way. As he …show more content…

Dalí had a dream about Camembert cheese melting while Gala was watching a movie. When he realized he was dreaming, he woke up and began to paint. In the painting, it showed three clocks melting, a pocket watch with ants, a piece of skin, and mountains. The mountains in the background are actually the rocks of Cape Creus, symbolizing a favorite childhood memory of his summer days. The three clocks melting symbolized Dalí wanting time, to literally, take it’s time. The piece of skin that’s seen on the floor is Dalí’s profile. If one looks closely, they could see his eye, nose, and moustache. On Dalí appears a melting watch, which may suggest that Dalí wants time for himself due to always painting almost all the time and being affectionate towards Gala all the time. The closed, orange pocket watch with the ants represents how everyone is figuring a way to keep time ticking for him or herself. “The imagery reaches into the unconscious, evoking the seemingly universal human preoccupation with time and memory” (Harris). In total, the painting may represent how Dalí wishes for time to slow down and let others realize time takes its own pace. When Gala returned from the movie theatre, “… she correctly predicted that no one who had seen “The Persistence of Memory” would ever forget it” (Harris). There is no right or wrong interpretation to the painting; Dalí wanted to create impactful visual paintings for the viewer to stop and

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