It was far removed from the center of Spain-in fact, his cottage was just 25 miles south of the French/Spanish border. But Dali had already visited Paris several times, and had begun to experiment in the fledgling movement of Surrealism.Īnd it was here in this strange, rocky coastline that Dali would take the seeds of what he’d learned in Paris and Madrid, and craft something new-something eminently “Dali-esque.” He was 27, and living in a recently-purchased fishing cottage in the town of Port Lligat on the Mediterranean Sea with his future wife, Gala. To answer all of these questions, let’s first take a short trip back to 1931, the year that The Persistence of Memory was painted.īy 1931, Salvador Dali had already attended (and been expelled from) San Fernando Academy of Art in Madrid. so much so that The Persistence of Memory is still referenced and parodied in art, literature, and popular culture, more than 80 years later.īut how did this (rather small) painting garner such widespread, global interest? What makes Dali’s imagery so different from other surrealist artists of his day, or now for that matter? Salvador Dali’s iconic painting, The Persistence of Memory, is quite probably one of the most famous works of art in the entire world, along with Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, Picasso’s Guernica, and a few others-and certainly, it is the most-recognizable surrealist painting ever created.Īfter all, whether or not you know your Braque from your Baroque, those strangely melting pocket watches are instantly recognizable.

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