The artwork titled “The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory,” created by Salvador Dalí during 1952-1954, is an oil on canvas piece belonging to the Surrealism movement. Measuring 25 x 33 cm, it portrays a landscape and is currently housed in the Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida, USA.
The artwork represents a stunning work of surrealism, where Dalí revisits the theme of his earlier famous painting “The Persistence of Memory.” In this later version, the landscape is rendered in meticulous detail, emphasizing a sense of disintegration. The iconic melting clocks, a hallmark of Dalí’s work, are shown fragmenting apart into smaller, brick-like components that appear to be floating or falling in a vast, checkered plane that represents space or the sea floor. A dead tree from which one of the clocks hangs lacks leaves and branches, contributing to the atmosphere of decay and entropy. The backdrop features a cliff-side, which seems to be a continuation from his earlier landscape, serving as a symbol of stability juxtaposed against the disintegrating foreground. Through this compelling work, Dalí explores themes of time, memory, and the fleeting nature of existence. The surreal and dreamlike quality challenges the viewers’ perception of reality and encourages deeper contemplation of the passage of time and the physical world’s impermanent state.
