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Dalí's 'The Persistence of Memory' as a Summer Icon

opinion-review · 2026-07-03

Salvador Dalí's 1931 painting The Persistence of Memory, often called Melting Clocks, is highlighted as the perfect artwork for hot summer days. The oil-on-canvas work, measuring 9 1/2 x 13 inches (24.1 x 33 cm), depicts melting clock faces in a barren seaside landscape with a leafless tree, simple architectural structures, and a distorted globular form resembling a sleeping human with long eyelashes. Instantly recognizable, the painting epitomizes the Surrealist movement and is Dalí's most famous work. The article is published by Art & Object.

Key facts

  • Salvador Dalí painted The Persistence of Memory in 1931.
  • The painting is oil on canvas, 9 1/2 x 13 inches (24.1 x 33 cm).
  • It depicts melting clock faces in a barren seaside landscape.
  • The landscape includes a leafless tree, simple architectural structures, and a distorted globular form resembling a sleeping human.
  • The painting is often referred to as Melting Clocks.
  • It is considered the epitome of the Surrealist movement.
  • It is Dalí's most famous work.
  • The article is from Art & Object.

Entities

Artists

Institutions

  • Art & Object
  • Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation

Sources