“Man cannot change or escape his time. The eye sees the present and the future.”

— Salvador Dalí

The best-known artist of the Surrealist movement, Salvador Dalí’s outstanding artistic career constituted a continuous dialogue between the condition of man and the passing of time. Le profil de temps is no exception to that exploration.  

In this remarkable bronze sculpture, Dalí’s iconic melted watch makes a comeback. As the limp form of the timepiece collapses over the bare tree, it takes shape into a human silhouette, emphasising the eternal connection between humanity and time. The unconventional fluidity of the clock also symbolises human experience, where, although time is often seen as exact and unchanging, it can be perceived in vastly different ways by individuals – sometimes stretched, dragging, or over in an instant. The surface of the timepiece may also be a representation of Dalí’s own profile, with the two adjoining hands reminiscent of his famed moustache. This constitutes an additional confirmation that every human being, including the artist, must submit to the relentless flow of time, hence the disintegrating movement of the watch that seems to acquire flesh and blood. A human tear drips from its bottom edge, perhaps mourning the journey through life that all must endure.

The present work distinctively echoes Dalí’s most celebrated painting, The Persistence of Memory of 1931, today at Museum of Modern Art in New York, which features the original dissolving clock as well as the bare tree as a symbol of the tyrannical passing of time. This further highlights Le profil de temps as an exceptional example of the Surrealist artist’s peculiar production.