Patina: Brown
In ‘La Vie Secrete’, Dalí's autobiography published in 1942, the artist stated "The mechanical object was to become my worst enemy, and as for watches, they would have to be soft, or not be at all!” Dalí believed that humans cannot rely on the non-dreaming or "real" world to show the absolute truth. This theme is evident in his sculpture Horse Saddled with Time. The horse, one of the most famous Dalínian images, is saddled with Dalinian time: it is time which controls of all of man’s passage. Man believes he is in control of the voyage, but it is always “time” who is the ultimate rider. The famous melted watch is used in place of a normal saddle. This surrealist beast can not be ridden or tamed by man, only admired for its beauty and perpetuity. The horse is portrayed as the representation of life weighed down and harnessed by time, symbolic of man’s fleeting voyage through life.
R. & N. Descharnes Salvador Dali Sculptures & Objects. Eccart. Ref. 650, page 252.