surreal. ism.

The Persistence of Memory (1931)
Salvador Dali

Not too long ago I dropped into my local bookstore, (in avoidance of stating that I was actually at the midterms hotspot/suburbian chain Barnes & Noble) browsing around at whatever grabbed my attention. Walking by the Best Sellers, 10% off table, a table dedicated to Jesus of Nazareth in response to the times (i.e., Easter), I found a table of books ranging from topics about the greatest scientists of all time, philosophers, artwork from the ages, etc. Needless to say, I spent most of my THREE hours at this table, depressingly ending at Princeton review books on the GREs.

Back to the table, as I refreshed my memory on history and art, I came across a book on Surrealism. Flipping through the pages, admiring the imagery.. the above piece struck my fancy. Originally titled "La Persistencia de la Memoria," Spanish for "The Persistence of Memory," the painting itself can be root to many interpretations, all of which I won't get into. Three words for thought: Ants, Time, Change.

Out of curiosity, I researched the artist via the World Wide Web & realized that his entire being interested me as well. On Dali:

"Dali would often make up ridiculous explanations for his paintings to purposely mislead people... By doing this Dali not only opened the doors for discussion of multiple interpretations of his art, but also made criticizing his work nearly impossible for people he thought who possessed lesser intellect than that of himself." Whatta genius.

Is it odd that this comment reminds me of someone I know? Ah..

Next read:

The Diary Of A Genius.
Salvador Dali.