Constancy of time. Description of the painting by S. Dali

Painting is the art of expressing the invisible through the visible.

Eugene Fromentin.

Painting, and in particular its “podcast” surrealism, is not a genre understood by everyone. Those who do not understand throw loud words of criticism, and those who understand are ready to give millions for paintings of this genre. Here is the painting by the first and most famous of the surrealists, “Flying Time”, which has “two camps” of opinions. Some shout that the picture is unworthy of all the fame it has, while others are ready to look at the picture for hours and receive aesthetic pleasure...

The surrealist's painting carries a very deep meaning. And this meaning develops into a problem - time flowing away aimlessly.

In the 20th century, in which Dali lived, this problem already existed and was already eating up people. Many did absolutely nothing useful for them and for society. They wasted their lives. And in the 21st century it gains even greater strength and tragedy. Teenagers do not read, they sit in front of computers and various gadgets aimlessly and without benefit to themselves. On the contrary: to your own detriment. And even if Dali did not imagine the significance of his painting in the 21st century, it created a sensation and this is a fact.

Nowadays, “flowing time” has become the object of controversy and conflict. Many deny all significance, deny the meaning itself and deny surrealism as art itself. They argue whether Dali was aware of the problems of the 21st century when he painted the picture in the 20th?

But nevertheless, “flowing time” is considered one of the most expensive and famous paintings by the artist Salvador Dali.

It seems to me that in the 20th century there were problems that weighed heavily on the shoulders of the painter. And opening a new genre of painting, with a cry displayed on canvas, he tried to convey to people: “don’t waste precious time!” And his call was accepted not as an instructive “story”, but as a masterpiece of the surrealism genre. The meaning is lost in the money that swirls around the passing time. And this circle is closed. The picture, which, according to the author’s assumption, was supposed to teach people not to waste time, became a paradox: it itself began to waste people’s time and money. Why does a person need a painting in his house, hanging aimlessly? Why spend a lot of money on it? I don’t think that Salvador painted a masterpiece for the sake of money, because when money is the goal, nothing comes of it.

“Flying Time” has been teaching for several generations not to miss, not to waste precious seconds of life. Many value precisely the painting, precisely the prestige: they were given an interest in the surrealism of El Salvador, but they do not notice the scream and meaning put into the canvas.

And now, when it is so important to show people that time is more valuable than diamonds, the picture is more relevant and instructive than ever. But only money revolves around her. This is unfortunate.

In my opinion, schools should have art classes. Not just drawing, but painting and the meaning of painting. Show children famous paintings by famous artists and reveal to them the meaning of their creations. For the work of artists who paint in the same way as poets and writers write their works should not become the goal of prestige and money. I think that’s not why SUCH pictures are drawn. Minimalism is, yes, stupidity, for which they pay a lot of money. And surrealism in some exhibits. But such paintings as “flowing time”, “Malevich’s square”, etc. should not gather dust on someone’s walls, but be the center of everyone’s attention and reflection in museums. You can argue about Kazimir Malevich’s Black Square for days about what he meant, and in Salvador Dali’s painting he finds new understandings from year to year. This is what painting and art in general are for. IMHO, as the Japanese would say.

Without exaggeration, Salvador Dali can be called the most famous surrealist of the 20th century, because his name is familiar even to those who are completely far from painting. Some people consider him the greatest genius, others - a madman. But both the first and second unconditionally recognize the artist’s unique talent. His paintings are an irrational combination of real objects deformed in a paradoxical way. Dali was a hero of his time: the master’s work was discussed both in the highest circles of society and among the proletarians. He became a true embodiment of surrealism with the freedom of spirit, inconsistency and shockingness inherent in this painting movement. Today, anyone can access masterpieces created by Salvador Dali. The paintings, photos of which can be seen in this article, are capable of impressing every fan of surrealism.

The role of Gala in Dali's work

Salvador Dali left behind a huge creative legacy. Paintings with titles that evoke mixed feelings among many today attract art lovers so much that they deserve detailed consideration and description. The artist’s inspiration, model, support and main fan was his wife Gala (an emigrant from Russia). All his most famous paintings were painted during his life together with this woman.

The Hidden Meaning of "The Persistence of Memory"

When considering Salvador Dali, it is worth starting with his most recognizable work - “The Persistence of Memory” (sometimes called “Time”). The canvas was created in 1931. The artist was inspired to paint the masterpiece by his wife Gala. According to Dali himself, the idea for the painting arose from the sight of something melting under the sun's rays. What did the master want to say by depicting a soft clock on canvas against the backdrop of a landscape?

The three soft dials decorating the foreground of the picture are identified with subjective time, which flows freely and unevenly fills all available space. The number of hours is also symbolic, because the number 3 on this canvas indicates the past, present and future. The soft state of the objects indicates the relationship between space and time, which was always obvious to the artist. There is also a solid clock in the picture, depicted with the dial down. They symbolize objective time, the course of which goes against humanity.

Salvador Dali also depicted his self-portrait on this canvas. The painting “Time” contains in the foreground an incomprehensible spread object framed by eyelashes. It was in this image that the author painted himself sleeping. In a dream, a person releases his thoughts, which while awake he carefully hides from others. Everything that can be seen in the picture is Dali’s dream - the result of the triumph of the unconscious and the death of reality.

Ants crawling on the body of a solid watch symbolize decay and rotting. In the painting, insects are arranged in the form of a dial with arrows and indicate that objective time destroys itself. A fly sitting on a soft watch was a symbol of inspiration for the painter. Ancient Greek philosophers spent a lot of time surrounded by these “Mediterranean fairies” (this is what Dali called flies). The mirror visible in the picture on the left is evidence of the impermanence of time; it reflects both objective and subjective worlds. The egg in the background symbolizes life, the dry olive symbolizes forgotten ancient wisdom, and eternity.

“Giraffe on Fire”: interpretation of images

By studying the paintings of Salvador Dali with descriptions, you can study the artist’s work more deeply and better understand the subtext of his paintings. In 1937, the artist’s brush produced the work “Giraffe on Fire.” This was a difficult period for Spain, since a little earlier it began. In addition, Europe was on the threshold of World War II, and Salvador Dali, like many progressive people of that time, felt its approach. Despite the fact that the master claimed that his “Giraffe on Fire” has nothing to do with the political events shaking the continent, the picture is thoroughly saturated with horror and anxiety.

In the foreground, Dali painted a woman standing in a pose of despair. Her hands and face are bloody, and it looks like their skin has been torn off. The woman looks helpless, she is unable to resist the impending danger. Behind her is a lady with a piece of meat in her hands (it is a symbol of self-destruction and death). Both figures stand on the ground thanks to thin supports. Dali often depicted them in his works to emphasize human weakness. The giraffe, after which the painting is named, is painted in the background. He is much smaller than the women, his upper body is on fire. Despite his small size, he is the main character of the canvas, embodying the monster bringing the apocalypse.

Analysis of "Premonitions of Civil War"

It was not only in this work that Salvador Dali expressed his premonition of war. Paintings with titles indicating its approach appeared by the artist more than once. A year before “Giraffe,” the artist painted “Soft Construction with Boiled Beans” (otherwise known as “Premonition of the Civil War”). The structure of human body parts, depicted in the center of the canvas, resembles the outlines of Spain on a map. The structure on top is too bulky, it hangs over the ground and can collapse at any moment. Beans are scattered below the building, which look completely out of place here, which only emphasizes the absurdity of the political events taking place in Spain in the second half of the 30s.

Description of "Faces of War"

“The Face of War” is another work left by the surrealist to his fans. The painting dates from 1940 - a time when Europe was engulfed in hostilities. The canvas depicts a human head with a face frozen in agony. She is surrounded on all sides by snakes, and instead of eyes and mouth she has countless skulls. It seems that the head is literally stuffed with death. The painting symbolizes the concentration camps that took the lives of millions of people.

Interpretation of "Dream"

“The Dream” is a painting by Salvador Dali, created by him in 1937. It depicts a huge sleeping head supported by eleven thin supports (exactly the same as those of the women in the painting “Giraffe on Fire”). Crutches are everywhere, they support the eyes, forehead, nose, lips. The person has no body, but has an unnaturally stretched back thin neck. The head represents sleep, and the crutches indicate support. As soon as each part of the face finds its support, the person collapses into the world of dreams. It's not just people who need support. If you look closely, in the left corner of the canvas you can see a small dog, whose body is also leaning on a crutch. You can also think of supports as threads that allow your head to float freely during sleep, but do not allow it to completely lift off the ground. The blue background of the canvas further emphasizes the detachment of what is happening on it from the rational world. The artist was sure that this is exactly what a dream looks like. The painting by Salvador Dali was included in his series of works “Paranoia and War”.

Images of Gala

Salvador Dali also painted his beloved wife. Paintings with the names “Angelus Gala”, “Madonna of Port Ligata” and many others directly or indirectly indicate the presence of Dyakonova in the plots of the works of the genius. For example, in “Galatea with Spheres” (1952), he depicted his life partner as a divine woman, whose face is visible through a large number of spheres. The wife of a genius hovers above the real world in the upper ethereal layers. His muse became the main character in such paintings as “Galarina,” where she is depicted with her left breast exposed, and “Atomic Leda,” in which Dali presented his naked wife as the ruler of Sparta. Almost all the female images present on the canvases were inspired by the painter’s faithful wife.

Impression of the artist's work

High-resolution photographs depicting paintings by Salvador Dali allow you to study his work down to the smallest detail. The artist lived a long life and left behind several hundred works. Each of them is a unique and incomparable inner world, depicted by a genius named Salvador Dali. Pictures with names known to everyone since childhood can inspire, cause delight, bewilderment or even disgust, but not a single person will remain indifferent after viewing them.

Salvador Dali - The Persistence of Memory (Spanish: La persistencia de la memoria).

Year of creation: 1931

Canvas, handmade tapestry.

Original size: 24 × 33 cm

Museum of Modern Art, New York

« The Persistence of Memory"(Spanish: La persistencia de la memoria, 1931) is one of the most famous paintings by the artist Salvador Dali. Has been in the Museum of Modern Art in New York since 1934.

Also known as " Soft watch», « Memory hardness" or " Memory durability».

This small painting (24x33 cm) is probably Dali's most famous work. The softness of the hanging and dripping clock is an image that could be described as “it extends into the realm of the unconscious, enlivening the universal human experience of time and memory.” Dali himself is present here in the form of a sleeping head, which has already appeared in “The Mourning Game” and other paintings. In accordance with his method, the artist explained the origin of the plot by reflecting on the nature of Camembert cheese; the landscape with Port Ligat was already ready, so painting the picture was a matter of two hours. Returning from the cinema, where she went that evening, Gala quite correctly predicted that no one, once they saw The Persistence of Memory, would forget it. The painting was painted as a result of the associations that Dali had with the sight of processed cheese, as evidenced by his own quote.

Description of the painting by Salvador Dali “The Persistence of Memory”

The greatest representative of surrealism in painting, Salvador Dali, truly skillfully combined mystery and evidence. This amazing Spanish artist created his paintings in a manner unique to him, sharpening life’s issues with the help of an original and opposite combination of the real and the fantastic.

One of the most famous paintings, known under several names, is most often found - “The Persistence of Memory”, but is also known as “Soft Hours”, “Hardness of Memory” or “Persistence of Memory”.

This is a very small picture of time flowing arbitrarily and unevenly filling space. The artist himself explained that the emergence of this plot is connected with associations when thinking about the nature of processed cheese.

It all starts with a landscape; it takes up little space on the canvas. In the distance one can see the desert and the sea coast, perhaps this is a reflection of the artist’s inner emptiness. There are also three clocks in the picture, but they are flowing. This is a temporary space through which the flow of life flows, but it can change.

Most of the artist’s paintings, their ideas, content, subtext, became known from notes in the diaries of Salvador Dali. But what is the artist’s own opinion about this painting has not been revealed, not a single line. There are many opinions about what the artist wanted to convey to us. There are also some so controversial that these sagging watches speak of Dali's fears, perhaps of some male problems. But, despite all these assumptions, the painting is extremely popular due to the originality of the surrealist movement.

Most often, when the word surrealism is mentioned, Dali is meant, and his painting “The Persistence of Memory” comes to mind. Now this work is in New York, you can see it at the Museum of Modern Art.

The idea for the work came to Dali on a hot summer day. He lay at home with a headache, and Gala went shopping. After eating, Dali noticed that the cheese melted from the heat and became fluid. This somehow coincided with what Dali had in his soul. The artist had a desire to paint a landscape with a melting clock. He returned to the unfinished painting he was working on at the time, which depicted a tree on a platform with mountains in the background. Over the course of two or three hours, Salvador Dali hung a melted pocket watch on the painting, which made the painting what it is today.

Salvador Dali
The Persistence of Memory 1931

History of creation

It was in the summer of 1931 in Paris, when Dali was preparing for a personal exhibition. After seeing Gala with friends at the cinema, “I,” Dali writes in his memoirs, “returned to the table (we finished the dinner with excellent Camembert) and became immersed in thoughts about the spreading pulp. Cheese appeared in my mind's eye. I got up and, as usual, headed to the studio to look at the picture I was painting before going to bed. It was the landscape of Port Lligat in the transparent, sad sunset light. In the foreground is the bare carcass of an olive tree with a broken branch.

I felt that in this picture I managed to create an atmosphere consonant with some important image - but which one? I have not the foggiest idea. I needed a wonderful image, but I couldn’t find it. I went to turn off the light, and when I came out, I literally saw the solution: two pairs of soft watches, they hang pitifully from an olive branch. Despite the migraine, I prepared my palette and got to work. Two hours later, by the time Gala returned, the most famous of my paintings was finished.”

Even if you don't know who painted The Persistence of Memory, you've definitely seen it. Soft watches, dry wood, sandy brown colors are recognizable attributes of the surrealist Salvador Dali’s painting. Date of creation - 1931, painted in oil on handmade canvas. The size is small - 24x33 cm. Storage location - Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Dali's work is imbued with a challenge to conventional logic and the natural order of things. The artist suffered from borderline mental disorders and attacks of paranoid delusions, which was reflected in all of his works. “The Persistence of Memory” is no exception. The painting has become a symbol of changeability, the instability of time, it contains a hidden meaning, which letters, notes, and the autobiography of the surrealist help to interpret..

Dali treated the canvas with special reverence and invested personal meaning. This attitude towards a miniature work, completed in literally two hours, is an important factor that contributed to its popularity. The laconic Dali, after creating his “Soft Clocks,” spoke about them quite often, recalled the history of their creation in his autobiography, and explained the meaning of the elements in correspondence and notes. Thanks to this painting, art historians who collected references were able to conduct a more in-depth analysis of the remaining works of the famous surrealist.

Description of the picture

The image of melting dials is familiar to everyone, but not everyone will remember the detailed description of Salvador Dali’s painting “The Persistence of Memory”, and they will not even look closely at some important elements. In this composition, every element, color scheme, and general atmosphere matter.

The picture was painted with brown paints with the addition of blue. Transports you to the hot coast - a solid rocky cape is located in the background, by the sea. Near the cape you can see an egg. Closer to the middle ground there is a mirror turned upside down with its smooth surface facing up.

In the middle ground is a withered olive tree, from a broken branch of which hangs a flexible watch dial. Nearby is the image of the author - a creature blurred like a mollusk with a closed eye and eyelashes. On top of the element is another flexible clock.

The third soft dial hangs from the corner of the surface on which the dry tree grows. In front of him is the only solid clock in the entire composition. They are turned with the dial down, on the surface of the back there are numerous ants forming the shape of a chronometer. The painting leaves a lot of empty spaces that do not require filling with additional artistic details.

The same image was taken as the basis for the painting “The Decay of the Persistence of Memory,” painted in 1952-54. The surrealist supplemented it with other elements - another flexible dial, fish, branches, a lot of water. This picture continues, complements, and contrasts with the first.

History of creation

The history of the creation of Salvador Dali’s painting “The Persistence of Memory” is as non-trivial as the entire biography of the surrealist. In the summer of 1931, Dali was in Paris, preparing to open a personal exhibition of his works. While waiting for Gala, his common-law wife, who had a huge influence on his work, to return from the cinema, the artist at the table was thinking about melting cheese. That evening, part of their dinner was Camembert cheese, which melted under the heat. The surrealist, suffering from a headache, visited his studio before going to bed, where he worked on a beach landscape bathed in sunset light. In the foreground of the canvas the skeleton of a dry olive tree was already depicted.

The atmosphere of the picture in Dali’s mind turned out to be consonant with other important images. That evening he imagined a soft clock hanging from a broken tree branch. Work on the painting continued immediately, despite the evening migraine. It took two hours. When Gala returned, the Spanish artist's most famous work was completely completed.

The artist’s wife argued that once you see the canvas, you won’t be able to forget the image. Its creation was inspired by the variable shape of the cheese and the theory of creating paranoid symbols, which Dali associated with the view of Cape Creus. This cape wandered from one surrealist work to another, symbolizing the inviolability of personal theory.

Later, the artist reworked the idea into a new canvas, called “Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory.” There is water hanging on a branch here, and the elements are disintegrating. Even dials that are constant in their flexibility slowly melt, and the surrounding world is divided into mathematically clear, precise blocks.

Secret meaning

To understand the secret meaning of the painting “The Persistence of Memory”, you will need to take a closer look at each attribute of the image separately.

They symbolize nonlinear time, filling space with a contradictory flow. For Dali, the connection between time and space was obvious; he did not consider this idea revolutionary. Soft dials are also associated with the ideas of the ancient philosopher Heraclitus about measuring time by the flow of thought. Dali thought about the Greek thinker and his ideas when creating the picture, as he admitted in a letter to physicist Ilya Prigogine.

There are three fluid dials shown. This is a symbol of the past, present and future, mixed into a single space, indicating an obvious relationship.

Solid watch

A symbol of the constancy of the passage of time, contrasted with soft watches. Covered with ants, which the artist associates with decay, death, and decay. Ants create the shape of a chronometer, obey the structure, without ceasing to symbolize decay. The artist was haunted by ants from his childhood memories and delusional fantasies; they were obsessively present everywhere. Dali argued that linear time devours itself; he could not do without ants in this concept.

Blurry face with eyelashes

A surreal self-portrait of the author, immersed in the viscous world of dreams and the human unconscious. The blurry eye with eyelashes is closed - the artist is sleeping. He is defenseless, in the unconscious nothing fetters him. The shape resembles a mollusk without a hard skeleton. Salvador said that he himself was defenseless, like an oyster without a shell. His protective shell was Gala, who had died earlier. The artist called the dream the death of reality, so the world of the picture becomes more pessimistic from this.

Olive tree

A dry tree with a broken branch is an olive tree. A symbol of antiquity, also again reminiscent of the ideas of Heraclitus. The dryness of the tree, the absence of foliage and olives, suggests that the age of ancient wisdom has passed and been forgotten, sunk into oblivion.

Other elements

The painting also contains the World Egg, symbolizing life. The image is borrowed from ancient Greek mystics and Orphic mythology. The sea is immortality, eternity, the best space for any travel in the real and imaginary worlds. Cape Creus on the Catalan coast, not far from the author’s home, is the embodiment of Dali’s theory about the flow of delusional images into other delusional images. The fly on the nearest dial is a Mediterranean fairy who inspired ancient philosophers. The horizontal mirror behind is the impermanence of the subjective and objective worlds.

Color spectrum

Brown sand tones prevail, creating a hot atmosphere. They are contrasted with cold blue shades, softening the pessimistic mood of the composition. The color scheme sets you in a melancholy mood and becomes the basis for the feeling of sadness that remains after viewing the picture.

General composition

The analysis of the painting “The Persistence of Memory” should be completed by considering the overall composition. Dali is precise in detail, leaving a sufficient amount of empty space not filled with objects. This allows you to concentrate on the mood of the canvas, find your own meaning, and interpret it personally, without “dissecting” every smallest element.

The size of the canvas is small, which indicates the personal meaning of the composition for the artist. The entire composition allows you to immerse yourself in the author’s inner world and better understand his experiences. The Persistence of Memory, also known as the Soft Clock, does not require logical analysis. Analyzing this masterpiece of world art in the genre of surrealism, you need to include associative thinking and stream of consciousness.