A Soft Watch You Can Lift Off: The Dali Melting Clock Statue with Stand
This Dali Melting Clock statue with stand isolates the limp pocket watch from The Persistence of Memory (1931). The clock drapes over a black base. It measures 4 in H x 3.25 in W x 2.1 in D, base included.
Salvador Dali painted that picture at twenty-seven, and the watch became the emblem of Surrealism. A magnet holds the clock to its base, so you can lift it off and handle it.
Product Details
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Material: Resin, hand finished in matte
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Dimensions: 4 in H x 3.25 in W x 2.1 in D including base
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Weight: 1.5 lbs
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Stand: Black base, clock attached by magnet and removable
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License: Produced with permission of the Gala-Salvador Dali Foundation
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Collection: Parastone Museum Collection, The Netherlands
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Product number: SD16
What Dali Said About the Watch
Dali later explained that the soft watches came from a Camembert cheese melting in the sun. The painting is tiny, only 9.5 in x 13 in. The Museum of Modern Art acquired it in 1934.
Critics read the limp watches as a symbol of the relativity of time. Dali himself denied that Einstein inspired them and spoke instead of his theory of softness and hardness.
The Shore Behind the Clock
The painting sets its watches on a barren shore drawn from Catalonia. The rocks at right depict the cliffs of Cap de Creus, near Dali's home at Port Lligat.
At the center lies a fleshy, sleeping creature with long eyelashes, often read as a soft self-portrait. One orange watch, crawling with ants, does not melt at all. For Dali, ants stood for decay.
Why a Base and a Magnet?
The black base presents the clock like a museum object, and the matte resin looks dry and chalky. Lift this magnetic melting watch figurine off the base, and you feel the soft folds the painting only suggests.
On a desk, the surrealist clock on black base keeps the painting's riddle in sight. A Persistence of Memory desk sculpture of this size suits a bookshelf as well.
Prefer a smaller piece without a base? See the Dali Melting Clock figurine in glossy resin. More Surrealist pieces wait in the Dali, Magritte and Surrealism Collection, and our Parastone Museum Replicas cover many periods.
Display and Care
At 1.5 lbs, the base keeps the Dali Melting Clock statue with stand steady on a desk or shelf. Keep the matte resin out of direct sun. Dust it with a soft dry brush. Keep it away from damp air.
Salvador Dali in Brief
Dali lived from 1904 to 1989 and was born in Figueres, Catalonia. Around 1930 he developed his paranoiac-critical method, a way of summoning irrational images that he said he controlled. The Dali Melting Clock statue with stand carries the best known of them.
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