Perceptions of "Persistence of Memory"Although visual art is viewed differently by everyone, everyone has a favorite piece or at least something that catches their attention. Personally, there isn't one work of art that I would call my all-time favorite, but during a Spanish research project I discovered that Salvador Dali's work really stood out. “The Persistence of Memory” painted in 1931 by Dalì, a very renowned surrealist painter, is among the most interesting works I have ever seen. Although at first glance the painting itself is of rather simple quality, what Dali must have thought about when creating this work is surprisingly complex. The painting appeals to me because it deals with the concept of time, something that everyone in the universe is continually concerned about. Time is evident in the painting because four, old-fashioned, gold pocket watches are shown melting, which is a rather depressing concept to think about. Although it may be difficult for most people to think about, Dali accurately provides and describes how he perceived time as capable of decaying or melting away. The ants crawling on the upside-down clock symbolize that the decay of time is analogous to insects eating cheese. The painting reminds viewers of the fleeting aspect of time and that we may not be here tomorrow or the next day. To maintain a gloomy attitude, Dali composed the painting in darker colors, with the exception of the largest clock which has a bluish hue and the picturesque mountain landscape reflected in the sea. The mountain scene seems to me to be the representation of something else that escapes over time; the ability to benefit from what nature has created for its viewers. Even though the conscious and subconscious are...... center of the card...... he has been eating this cheese his whole life. It would also make sense because if the clocks represented melting cheese, this is probably why Dali chooses to have the ants eat one of the clocks. Similarly, Dali may have seen ants eating cheese during a picnic, which gave them the idea of ​​also eating time or clocks. Dali's subconscious appears again with the elongated face in the center of the painting which also appeared in Dali's previous painting, "The Great Masturbator". The face is his and originates from the sexual thoughts of his previous painting and the fact that his father made him look at images of people suffering from venereal diseases which left him mentally scarred for the rest of his adult life. These impressions made him believe that sex led to putrefaction and/or decay which could also be significant with the decay of clocks in “The Persistence of Memory”..”