Patina: Green/Gold
The melted watch is the most well-known and beloved of Dalí's iconoclastic images - the artist chose to portray this image consistently throughout his lifetime, beginning in 1932. The ever-present fluidity of time is represented in this sculpture as time not only moving, but dancing in rhythm to the beat of the universe. Universal time knows no limits; it must be remembered that time, as we understand it, is a human notion. Instead, Dalínian time is perpetual and 'dances on' stopping for no man, history or even the cosmos. The image depicts Dalí's fantastical relationship with time, his perception of its constricting limitations and the importance he believed to be inherent in memory. This image is depicted in three different forms: Dance of Time I,II and III.
R. & N. Descharnes Salvador Dali Sculptures & Objects. Eccart. Ref. 637, page 248.