April 15 2020,
Today is the day, the day one should dwell and unleash the art within, the day one should celebrate the creation and the creator, the day one should imagine, create and practise something surreal. Hath thou is blessed with the power to dream! For one who forsakes reality shalt become an artist.
I wish all the readers, Happy World Art Day.
Let’s begin this voyage with the artwork which can make your mind twisted. Contain your sanity, you might get insane knowing about this artwork, as thou questions can’t be answered. Drop the anchor and let’s dive deep into episode 6 of Artworks.
Does the artwork cheat you? Yes, it destructs your paradigm about clocks. Thus, it got its name, a surreal painting done by “Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí I Domènech, Marquis of Dalí de Púbol”, I know you didn’t read it. Let’s keep it Salvador Dali. A surrealist who had an important part to play in the renaissance of Spain. Before decoding the art, let’s see who is Dali and what is Surrealism.
The man behind Money Heist Mask | Salvador Dali
Yes, you read that right, the face got popular after La casa de Papel/Money heist streamed on Netflix. The man lost his mother at the age of 16. He was thrown out of the house by his father at the age of 25. He never graduated from art school, also he was expelled twice. Those hardships he experienced made him a surreal artist. He believed in images which grew through the subconscious. He names it ‘paranoiac-critical method’. It is a method of self-inducing hallucinations through an attempt of going into a meditative state. Dali’s trademark moustache has been one of the significant impressions of him, it is said that moustache remained intact even after his death. Quite baffling to hear right? So as his character. His artworks were much inspired and impacted the Surrealism era, penetrating the minds of people and made them confused.
The boom of reality | Surrealism
“Rose rose to put rose roes on her rows of roses”- don’t get it? Well, it’s a perfectly framed English sentence to disturb your subconscious. So as surrealistic artwork, it disturbs one’s mind with a galaxy of thoughts. Surrealism is not just a kind of artwork, but it is a movement which promoted strangeness, illusions and unrealistic things which are born in an unconscious mind. It started in 1917 having a global impact in literature, art, music and even films. André Breton was known to revolutionize this movement. Are you a surrealist? Well, yes. Try listening to quantum physics lectures which will drag you into the world of neverland! A land of dream.
Decoding the art
You are looking at the painting which defies reality, it attacks what is rational. It causes a trippy feeling in the human brain, a brain teaser indeed. Persistence of Memory, a painting made by Dali in 1931 when he was 21 years old.
He first started with the landscape which is seen in the background. The whole picture is quiet, calm, null. There are no waves in the sea and there is no living movement in the painting, even if you die there, you would perish to a skeleton. The sea meets a mountain landscape, art historians figured out that the mountains are from North Catalonia, Spain where Dali grew up. We can’t see what beyond those mountains, it extends to an eternity of void, it can be perceived as a wide desert. There is a board near to the sea on right, experts couldn’t figure out what it is. It looks like a large man-made slab which reflects the sea. What do you think it is?
Coming to the foreground, the first thing that captures our glances are those three melting clocks. Have you ever seen a clock melting like a cheese due to heat? Make sense as it is in the desert. From the name of the painting does it say that memory doesn’t fade in time, only extends/melts due to its persistence in one’s mind?
Oh wait, let’s see what science has to say to this. Experts say that it depicts Albert Einstein’s Theory of Relativity as the theory proposes that time is relative and not fixed. But Dali wasn’t known for science, but he does cheat reality and science.
Look at the short dead tree, where does it grow? As you see it’s from the tabletop. The dead tree grew from something that is man-made. Does Dali say man-made earth is destroying nature? Thus, the clock gets melted on its branch showing that our time on earth is melting away and we are responsible for it. If you closely look at the orange hand clock in the down left corner, you can see ants above the clock converging and eating it. Is he saying nature eats back what is man-made, showing its dominance?
Let’s come to the strangest part, a mysterious creature lying on the land. What is it? Sea creature? Land Animal? It has eyelashes with its tongue sticking out. Maybe it’s dead. It looks silky and curly as it lay on the land of the desert. If you see the whole picture, everything melts except the mountain which stands rock-hard. Does he say that only nature lasts forever?
Coming to the artwork, this painting is extremely small. It measures only 9.5 inches by 13 inches. It is kept in the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City. This painting has got wide attention and bought popularity to Dali as a surrealistic painter. This painting was used in music album covers and was adopted by famous cartoon shows such as Simpsons and Sponge Bob square pants. This painting has got a remarkable leap in surrealistic movement, it tamed the minds of disturbed and disturbed the minds of calm. It sure is tricky and mysterious. Bella Ciao!
What do you think about this art?
Weigh the anchor and hoist the mizzen. Everyone! Board the ship we’re going to visit another beautiful discovery soon.
Musée du Ben 
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