The Persistence of Memory

Imagine a place where everything is quiet and sleepy. The sun is warm and bright, making the sand glow and the water look like a shiny blue blanket. But something is very silly here. Look. A clock is soft and floppy. It hangs over a tree branch like a wet noodle. Drip, drop, it melts in the sun. Another clock melts over a big block, gooey and slow. A tiny clock is being visited by little ants walking all over it. It is a strange and sunny dream. I am a special painting. My name is The Persistence of Memory.

A man with a very funny mustache made me. His name was Salvador Dalí. His mustache was long and pointy, and it curled up at the ends like a smile. One night, a long, long time ago in the year 1931, Salvador was eating some yummy, gooey cheese. The cheese was so soft it was melting on his plate. 'Haha.' he thought. 'My cheese looks like a melty clock.' That gave him a silly, wonderful idea. He decided to paint a world where time was soft and melty, just like his cheese. He painted me to look like one of his dreams. He even painted a sleepy creature on the ground. It looks a little like his own face, all snoozy and peaceful. Salvador Dalí loved to paint his dreams because he thought dreams were full of surprises. He put all his funny ideas together to make me.

Now, I don't live in a dream. I live in a big, quiet building called a museum. Lots of friends, big and small, come to visit me every day. They stand and look at my melty clocks and the sleepy creature. Some people giggle when they see my floppy clocks. Some people get quiet and think about their own funny dreams. I make them feel curious and happy. I show them that amazing ideas can come from anywhere, even from a piece of melting cheese. Your dreams are special and full of fun ideas, too. Imagination is like a superpower that makes the world a more wonderful, magical place.