The Soft Clock is one of Dalí’s most famous images. These melting clocks, which have become his “trademark,” originate from his most famous 1931 painting, The Persistence of Memory. In Dali’s world, time is not rigid; it is one with space … fluid and limitless. The unexpected malleability of the clock implies that the clock itself can no longer function, and, as a result, it loses all meaning. Through the use of this symbol Dalí was attempting to communicate that human perception of time changes depending on mood and actions.
At the age of five, Dalí saw an insect being devoured by ants, of which nothing remained except the shell. Ants in Dalí’s paintings and sculptures refer to death and decline, recalling the mortality of human beings and impermanence. They also represent the irrepressible sexual desire.
The egg is another Dalinian motif given the duality of the hard exterior and soft interior. Dalí links the egg to prenatal images and the intrauterine universe, thus symbolizing hope and love.
As a boy, Dalí found an old crutch in the attic and was immediately fascinated by it. The object becomes a fetish for him, gives him security, and will later become a familiar motif in his work. Basically, the crutch symbolizes something or someone weak and unable to stand on its own: it offers support, strength and stability. The crutch symbol can also be considered a representation of tradition, as it upholds important human values.
The snail occupies an important position in the Dalinian universe, as it is closely linked to a significant event in the artist’s life: his meeting with Sigmund Freud. Dalí believed that nothing happened to him by chance and was fascinated when he saw a snail on a bicycle outside Freud’s house. He connected the snail to the human head, specifically Freud’s head. As with the egg and the lobster, the hard shells and soft interiors of snails fascinated Dalí and the geometry of their curves enchanted him
The image of theElephant first appears in Dalí’spaintings in 1941, in the paintingDream Caused by the Flight of a Bee, and then embodied as a symbol in the artist’s famous 1946 painting, The Temptation of St. Anthony. Dalí’s elephants have long, thin legs, accentuating the contrast between sturdiness and fragility, and the idea of weightlessness while still having structure. The elephants move gracefully without any effort, in an intangible atmosphere.
The drawers in Dalí’s work originate from the influence of Freud and psychoanalysis on the artist: “the human body is full of secret drawers that only psychoanalysis is able to open.”
The drawers represent hidden desires and the secret sensuality of women. Dalí often depicts them slightly open, suggesting that the secrets they hold are now known and there is no longer any need to fear them. Drawers also symbolize hidden secrets, memories and the subconscious mind, expressing our natural tendency to explore what is enclosed there and the fascination of mystery.
A symbol of the beauty of nature, Dalí embraced all that was beautiful. The ancient Greek word for butterfly “psyche” meant soul. In mythology, the butterfly represents the soul, and Dalí was seeking transcendence through his art. Butterflies represent the liberated spirit and progress toward higher awareness. The butterfly also embodies a particularly interesting theme for Dalí: metamorphosis and continuous transformation but also rebirth.
