A simple still-life with roses, one is tempted to say. And yet as soon as we notice the fan, books and the metal bowl containing notes, letters and an elegant pair of beige leather gloves next to the flowers, we understand there is more to it than meets the eye. The artist spells out a visual riddle. Each element plays a part in portraying an invisible but highly elegant, refined person.

On the left we can see a table with a tree growing on it. On a branch of the tree there is a melting clock. In the corner of the table, there are two more clocks, one is melting and the other is a pocket clock which is closed.

Between the table and the sea there is an enormous area of sand in brown colours.

In the middle of the painting, there is also the head of a bird melting in the sand too with a melting clock on it. Although the experts say that it’s not the head of a bird (although it looks like) but a part of the face of the painter. We can identify his eye with long eyelashes. 

The predominant colours in the painting are orange, brown, blue and yellow. The sky is blue and yellow because of sunset. The sand is brown. The cliff in the background has orange colours because of the light. The table on the left is brown too. The closed pocket clock is orange. The melting clocks have their faces white and the hands and numbers of the clock are black.

This work of art by Salvador Dalí is called “The Persistence of Memory” and he painted it in 1931. It's a surrealistic painting and is exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City since 1934.