The meaning behind Surrealist Salvador Dali's artistic masterpiece The Persistence of Memory (1931) is not easy to grasp. In the painting, four clocks are prominently on display in an otherwise empty desert scene. While this might seem uncanny enough, the clocks are not flat as you might expect them to be, but are bent out of shape, appearing to be in the act of melting away. In classic Surrealist manner, this weird and unexpected juxtaposition poses a lot of questions right upfront. First off, why are these clocks melting? Why are the clocks out in the desert? Where are all the people?