The Persistence of Memory, a painting by Salvador Dali created in 1931, can be interpreted many different ways due to its surrealist style. The painting in both its surrealist style, along with its subject being clocks, leaves itself open for interpretation with no definite meaning ever explained by Dali. The most apparent meaning of the painting is about how Dali is looking back on his adolescence and the clocks are the time between him then and him now. This meaning is presented through his use of space, symbols, shadow, and focus. 

The fist element that Dali uses to illustrate his meaning is the way he uses space. In the background there is a cliff overlooking some water. This is a representation of his past in that he lived in a place that looked similar to that growing up. That cliff is however off in the distance showing the separation between the past and now. In the foreground there are all of these clocks the clock are representative of the time between the past and the present. The middle of the painting between the cliff and the clocks is void of almost any detail it is more space between then and now. There is a sky with some hazy details behind the cliffs representing the events that happened very early in his childhood but are so far distant that it is almost like they are not there anymore. Dali uses the space of his painting like a timeline representing his life from the beginning up until the moment he is in when he started painting. 

Dali also uses many symbols in The Persistence of Memory to allow for more to be said with less. One of the first symbols is the melting clocks. The clocks are a representation of time between the past and present. But the fact that the clocks are melting shows that Dali has lost track of the time that has passed since these old memories. The clocks melting is a symbol of the futility of time and how it is always flowing.  Another use of symbol is the ants that are eating the red clock. The ant eating away at the clock like time is slowly eating away at his memories. The empty ground between the cliff and the clocks is the time in his life that he don't have any solid memories of that is why is hazy even though it is between the detailed cliff and clocks. Dali uses symbols to make the meaning of his painting but also to leave it up to the viewer to look at and interpret the symbols how they see and what they see in the painting.

Shadow is another thing that Dali uses to put a meaning in his painting. The entire painting is covered with a shadow except for the cliff and the table. The light represents the fondness he has for his past memories. The fondness he has for his childhood must also be coming into his life again as he depicts the light raising again, coming over the desk and beginning to light up the foreground like the past was. This is saying that fondness he had for life in the past when he was a child, he is rediscovering and enjoying his life again. The light also shines on the tree which is leaving a shadow to the left indicating the sun is on the right or the directing normally assigned as east on a map. This is an indicator that the sun is rising and not setting.  Salvador Dali uses the shadows to give feeling to the painting and to express how he remembers his life whether it be fond or depressing. 

The focus of the painting is another way that Dali expresses his meaning. The focus of the painting initially seems to be the clocks in the foreground but the cliff in the background is just a detailed as the clocks and the foreground. The clocks are a focus of the painting and represent the importance of time but also are the theme of the painting, everything in the painting revolves around time. Time is the primary focus of Dali's painting and an ever-present theme. There is also another focus of the painting, the cliffs in the background. The cliffs are the other focus in the painting and whether it is representative of Dali's past childhood or a more general past it is the focus on the positive seen in the past.  The cliffs are the fondness he has for his childhood and past memories, which if the painting is his about his memories are the other focus of his life. The focuses of the painting are on both the present, in the clocks, and the fond memories from the past, in the cliffs. Dali is focusing on the positive in his life in this painting. 

 Dali's meaning is presented through his use of space, symbols, shadow, and focus. He uses these element primarily along with others to present a story in his painting, The Persistence of Memory. Dali manages to use these elements to present a meaning even in his surrealist style. There are many different things that could be seen through Dali's work and that is what makes them so interesting. Some may see this painting as a commentary on time, others many see the painting and think it is a depiction of a dream he had, and still others may see it a just some stage painting by a stranger man. Salvador Dali's style leaves his work open to be interpreted and he liked it that way preferring to hear all about what people thought his painting meant whether it was what he intended or not. The Persistence of Memory is one of Dali's most famous works and its open-endedness is what makes it so famous. The way he uses all these tools to construct a deep meaning in what could be described as a painting of clocks in astounding. That Dali manages to fit his own summary of his life into a painting through his use of many artistic techniques is incredible. That meaning however the one in this paper may or may not have been what Dali intended but it is not incorrect as no interpretation of the work is wrong, except perhaps that it is a simple painting of clocks. The only thing that is certainly true is that a picture is most defiantly worth a thousand words. 

