In 1931, a Spaniard by the name of Salvador Dali, generally considered the most influential painter of the surrealist cultural movement, created one of his most renowned paintings, The Persistence of Memory. This piece was created in the prime of the Surrealist movement, and is often looked to as the epitome of surrealism art. After closely observing this painting through the lens of surrealist aims, I can see why this is true. Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 20th century, and is most commonly expressed through visual artwork. The whole idea of surrealism is to tap into the creative potential of the unconscious mind, often through the state of dreams and visions. In The Persistence of Memory, Salvador Dali uses multiple surrealist techniques including the use of juxtaposition, creating an illogical scene, and distorting everyday objects in order to show how time is perceived by our unconscious mind while we are dreaming. When observing this painting, it immediately comes off as illogical, forcing me to try and interpret its nonsensical elements. The first thing the eye gravitates towards are three clocks which appear to be melting. One is melting over the edge of a platform, one is melting over a tree branch that is connected to the platform, and one is melting over a monster like figure on the ground, who looks to be sleeping. There is a fourth clock which appears to a be pocket watch, but it is closed as covered in ants. The landscape appears to be a wide open dessert with no other life whatsoever. However, in this very illogical scene containing a monster, melting clocks, and a random platform with a tree growing out of it, the background seems quite comprehensible and not at all distorted.  In the distance you can see a tall cliff leading up to the edge of some kind of body of water. This juxtaposition is very common in surrealist art. An unrealistic scene happening in a realistic setting shows the unconscious working within the confines of the known world. This is done so that the viewer is able to comprehend the scene. If this illogical scene was taking place in an illogical setting, it would be much harder for the viewer to understand. I believe the monster like figure sleeping on the ground to be an abstract depiction of Dali himself. The abstract monster figure on the ground appears to be a human profile laying on its side. The viewer can observe human facial features like a closed eye with long eye lashes, a nose and possibly a mouth. While the viewer can see these familiar human facial features, they are presented in a very puzzling way. Surrealists try hard to come up with ways to create a visual representation of their dreams. Therefore, it’s logical to conclude that this monster like figure sleeping to be an abstract depiction of Dali himself, a representation of his unconsciousness during a state of dreaming. The unconscious mind, and how it works through our dreams, is the most critical theme of any surrealist’s work.  This is due to the fact that our dreams are the only medium that we possess that allows us to be aware of our unconscious working through us. We run through our lives keeping track of every minute of our day. Being able to properly manage and plan out our time is very important in order to be productive and feel like we are in control of our own lives.  But when we are asleep this changes. While we are dreaming, or asleep at all, we cannot stay tuned in to the concept of time the same way we do when we are awake. While we are asleep we are thrown to the mercy of our subconscious mind playing through various dream states and visions. This is the message that Dali is attempting to convey with The Persistence of Memory. The melting clocks expresses and symbolizes how we perceive the passage of time while we are sleeping. When we are asleep, time is arbitrary and loses meaning. We have no way of budgeting our time in our dreams, that’s up to our unconsciousness. When we go to sleep, we can wake up hours later, and the time that passed can only feel as if we have only slept for a few minutes. The clocks are melting because they are powerless in the dream word. They are our tool to keep up with time, but they are rendered useless while we sleep. One of the clocks in the painting however is not melting. It’s a closed pocket watch covered in ants. This represents the decay of time. Not only can we not keep track of time while we are asleep, but we are losing it as well.  Time has always been moving forward, and always will. It will move forward regardless of human intentions; we are powerless to time. I’ve never noticed until I started writing on this topic how we all refer to time as if we own it. The truth is time will always supersede us.Surrealism is a challenging art form that takes a certain kind of person creative person. Having the ability to look inward into your unconscious mind through dreams and visions, and to be able to paint them in a photographic way is something not every artist can do. In The Persistence of Memory, Dali’s methods of demonstrating the perception of time are classic elements of surrealism. His seemingly illogical painting holds a lot of logical truths. His use of juxtaposition and distortion of everyday objects in order to show how time is perceived by our unconscious mind is very thought provoking and effective. The whole idea of surrealism is to tap into the creative potential of the unconscious mind, often through the state of dreaming. Dali’s insertion of an abstract depiction of himself sleeping in the painting is a very fascinating method of proving that this scene is in fact a representation of his unconscious state of mind. 
