100,000+ Books, Games & Puzzles in-stock 🇳🇿

Overnight NZ-wide delivery on in-stock orders 🚀

Salvador Dalí: The Persistence of Memory

Brief Description
A fascinating and detailed analysis of one of the most iconic works of Surrealism In 1931, Salvador Dalí (1904-89) painted The Persistence of Memory, a work that has become virtually synonymous both with the artist and with Surrealism itself. In this bleak and infinite dreamscape, hard... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$3499
AVAILABLE WITH SUPPLIER Ships from our Auckland warehouse within 4-6 weeks

Found a better price? Request a price match

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

A fascinating and detailed analysis of one of the most iconic works of Surrealism

In 1931, Salvador Dalí (1904-89) painted The Persistence of Memory, a work that has become virtually synonymous both with the artist and with Surrealism itself. In this bleak and infinite dreamscape, hard objects become inexplicably limp, while metal attracts ants like rotting flesh. Yet realistic details are included, too: the distant cliffs depict the coastline of Dalí's native Catalonia. Tapping deep into the non-rational mechanisms of his mind-dreams, the imagination and the subconscious- and utilizing what he called "the usual paralyzing tricks of eye-fooling," Dalí claimed that he made this painting with "the most imperialist fury of precision," but only "to systematize confusion and thus to help discredit completely the world of reality." Curator Anne Umland unpacks this uncanny masterpiece, placing it within Dalí's long career as artist, author, critic, impresario and provocateur.

Series: MoMA One on One Series

View all
  • Kahlo: Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair
    An accessible and in-depth study of Frida Kahlo, one of the most beloved artists in MoMA's collection. Though the Surrealists adopted Frida Kahlo as one of their own, the painter maintained that she did "not know if my paintings are Surrealist or not, but I do know that they are the most frank expression of myself." She produced numerous self-portraits,...
    Paperback
    $3499
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Salvador Dalí: The Persistence of Memory
    A fascinating and detailed analysis of one of the most iconic works of Surrealism In 1931, Salvador Dalí (1904-89) painted The Persistence of Memory, a work that has become virtually synonymous both with the artist and with Surrealism itself. In this bleak and infinite dreamscape, hard objects become inexplicably limp, while metal attracts ants like rotting flesh. Yet realistic details...
    Paperback
    $3499
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Georgia O’Keeffe: Abstraction Blue
    During the 1920s, Georgia O'Keeffe became widely known for her paintings of enlarged flowers, and these canvases arguably remain her most iconic today. But she regularly returned to abstraction—the language of her breakthrough drawings from the 1910s. Executed in 1927, Abstraction Blue retains the glowing colour, careful modulation, and zoomed-in view of the artist's contemporaneous blooms, while foregoing any obligation...
    Paperback
    $3499
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Frank Lloyd Wright: Broadacre City Project
    This latest volume in the MoMA One on One series focuses on Frank Lloyd Wright's Broadacre City Project (1934-1935). Frank Lloyd Wright's proposal for Broadacre City (1929-35) put forth a remarkable claim—that the metropolis was obsolete. In its place, Broadacre was to be a "Usonian" synthesis, an unprecedented landscape unsullied by convention or history, consisting simply of "architecture and acreage."...
    Paperback
    $3499
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Pablo Picasso: Boy Leading a Horse
    This latest volume in the MoMA One on One series focuses on Pablo Picasso: Boy Leading a Horse (1905-06). Pablo Picasso developed Boy Leading a Horse (1905-06) from an unrealised mural during a pivotal period of evolution in his art. The youth in the painting exudes confidence, his clenched fist compelling the steed to follow him without any reins. The...
    Paperback
    $3699
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Kisho Kurokawa: Nakagin Capsule Tower
    This latest volume in the MoMA One on One series focuses on Kisho Kurokawa's Nakagin Capsule Tower in Tokyo, completed between 1970-72. One of the most iconic architectural marvels of the postwar period, the Nakagin Capsule Tower in Tokyo was designed by the office of Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa and completed between 1970-72. The project comprised of two steel and...
    Paperback
    $3699
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Tarsila do Amaral: The Moon
    Tarsila do Amaral's painting The Moon (1928), a highly stylised, desolate nocturne, grew from the artist's desire to create a new national form of expression for Brazil. In The Moon and other paintings of the late 1920s, do Amaral successfully "cannibalised" modern European painting and Brazilian popular culture and Indigenous lore to transform them into something new. In this volume...
    Paperback
    $3500
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Helen Levitt: New York, 1939
    Helen Levitt's photographs from the 1930s and 1940s of the communities of New York City's Harlem are startling achievements of street photography. They catch the evanescent configurations of gesture, movement, pose and expression that make visible the street as surreal theatre, and everyday life as art and mystery. The unguarded life of children at play became, understandably, Levitt's particular preoccupation....
    Paperback
    $3499
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Ming Smith: The Invisible Man, Somewhere, Everywhere
    "I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fibre and liquids, and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, simply because people refuse to see me."...
    Paperback
    $3499
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Rousseau: The Dream
    Each volume in this new series offers an in-depth exploration of one major work in MoMA's collection. Through a lively illustrated essay by a MoMA curator that examines the work in detail, the publication delves into aspects of the artist's oeuvre and places the work in a broader social and art historical context. The current volume explores Rousseau: The Dream...
    Paperback
    $3499
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Modersohn-Becker: Self-Portrait with two flowers
    An accessible and in-depth study of Paula Moderson-Becker's final self-portrait, the earliest painting by a woman on view in MoMA's collection galleries Paula Modersohn-Becker painted her last self-portrait in autumn 1907, while she was pregnant with her first child. In the painting, she gazes straight at the viewer, holding up two flowers—symbols of the creativity and procreativity of women artists—and...
    Paperback
    $4400
    Available
    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • Oppenheim: Object
    In 1936, invited by André Breton to contribute to an exhibition of Surrealist objects, Meret Oppenheim decided to act upon a café conversation she had recently had with Pablo Picasso and his then-companion Dora Maar. Commenting on a fur-covered bracelet that Oppenheim had made for the designer Schiaparelli, Picasso remarked that one could cover just about anything in fur, to...
    Paperback
    $3499
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781633451759

Publisher: Museum of Modern Art

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 30 September 2025

Country: United States

Imprint: Museum of Modern Art

Illustration: 35 Illustrations

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 184.0mm

Height: 228.0mm

Weight: 200g

Pages: 48

About the Author

Anne Umland is an art historian and a former curator at The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Also by Anne Umland

View all
  • Picasso: Girl Before a Mirror
    Each volume in this new series offers an in-depth exploration of one major work in MoMA's collection. Through a lively illustrated essay by a MoMA curator that examines the work in detail, the publication delves into aspects of the artist's oeuvre and places the work in a broader social and art historical context. Picasso: Girl Before a Mirror is part...
    Paperback
    $2595
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Sophie Taeuber-Arp: Dada Head
    A new title in MoMA's One on One series, focusing on Sophie Taeuber-Arp's Dada Head Upon first encountering Sophie Taeuber-Arp's Dada Head (1920), one might wonder whether it is a sculptural bust, a hat stand, or a fetish object. Indicative of her pursuit to dissipate the conventional boundaries between the applied and fine arts that existed in pre-World War II...
    Paperback
    $3499
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks

More from Arts & Culture

View all
  • Dylan's Pick
    Bold Types
    A tribute to 32 truly independent bookshops throughout Aotearoa New Zealand, from north of Auckland down to Dunedin, and coast to coast. Jane Ussher's photographs show every bookstore in its unique nature - including behind the counter, smoko rooms, the mess which tells the hardworking story behind the joy of matching books with customers. Jemma Moreira's careful editing has crafted...
    Hardback
    $5500
    Elsewhere:
    $7000
    Available
    Ships in 1 week
  • Disney Moana: The Official Cookbook
    New Release
    Disney Moana: The Official Cookbook
    Embark on a culinary adventure with Moana of Motunui with Pacific recipes inspired by Moana and Moana 2! After a long day of sailing to see how far you’ll go or keeping the demigod Maui out of trouble with Te Fiti, catch a break with the delicious dishes in Moana: The Official Cookbook! Featuring more than 50 recipes spanning the...
    Hardback
    $4499
    Elsewhere:
    $5299
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • This Angry Pen of Mine
    This Angry Pen of Mine by Layne Staley invites you to dive into the untold creative world of Layne Staley, the legendary voice behind Alice in Chains. This extraordinary collection showcases his handwritten lyrics, deeply personal poetry, stunning original artwork, rare photos, fan tributes, and so much more. Step into the world of Layne Staley like never before. For the...
    Hardback
    $7299
    Elsewhere:
    $8999
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • They Bloom Because of You
    Bestselling author and Instagram sensation Jessica Urlichs returns with a new collection of beautifully observed poems about the ever-evolving journey of motherhood - the hard, the magic and the fleeting. ‘A raw and honest read that makes you feel seen and understood in a way that will bring you to tears.’ - Hilary Swank ‘A book to keep close and...
    Paperback
    $3000
    Elsewhere:
    $3600
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Leaves of Grass
    A collectible new Penguin Classics series offers beautiful, slim, clothbound editions of ten favourite poets. In 1855, Walt Whitman published his first collection of poetry, Leaves of Grass. The volume received great praise from leading Transcendentalist poet Ralph Waldo Emerson. This encouragement led to what would become a lifelong project, as Whitman expanded and rewrote the volume until his death...
    Hardback
    $2200
    Elsewhere:
    $2400
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Great Writers and the Cats who Owned Them
    Throughout history, cats and writers have bonded together in a magical combination of comfort, companionship and inspiration. The famous authors featured here range from Samuel Johnson, whose cat Hodge dined on oysters, and Edward Lear, whose charismatic cat Foss was missing half his tail, to Margaret Mitchell, L. M. Montgomery and Dorothy L. Sayers, who rescued her kitten Blitz from...
    Hardback
    $3999
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Beautiful Chaos
    The Instant Sunday Times Bestseller Selected poems from bestselling author and Instagram poet, Jessica Urlichs. 'These words awaken the magic of life by celebrating the ordinary.' - Giovanna Fletcher Motherhood is messy and beautiful, and hard and humbling. We adore our children and sometimes we miss ourselves. Beautiful Chaos is a collection of raw, honest poems about motherhood, capturing everything...
    Paperback
    $2900
    Elsewhere:
    $3500
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • To the Women - The New Collection of Wise Words Every Woman Needs
    THE COMPLETELY UPDATED COLLECTION WITH OVER 70 BRAND NEW POEMS, FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES NO.1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF WILD HOPE AND WORDS TO LIVE BY 'Amazing . . . Donna's words speak to my heart' Davina McCall To the Women is a celebration of the beauty, strength, and joy of being a woman. A love letter to our deep capacity...
    Hardback
    $2999
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Wreck This Journal: Now in Colour
    The creative journey continues with Wreck This Journal: Now in Colour by Keri Smith, the latest and most vibrant edition of the groundbreaking series that redefined journaling. Celebrating its 10th anniversary, this edition brings the playful destructiveness of the original to life in dazzling full colour, adding a dynamic new dimension to the beloved prompts. Whether you're a seasoned Wreck-er,...
    Paperback
    $2500
    Elsewhere:
    $2800
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • A Thousand Feasts
    THE INSTANT #1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER From award-winning writer Nigel Slater, comes a new and exquisitely written collection of notes, memoir, stories and small moments of joy. 'Nigel Slater’s prose is the rarest delicacy of all: exquisite yet effortless, filled with heart, tenderness, yearning and humour' ELIZABETH DAY For years, Nigel Slater has kept notebooks of curiosities and wonderings, penned...
    Paperback
    $2999
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Odyssey
    The Odyssey by Homer is a monumental epic that has enthralled readers for centuries with its rich tapestry of adventure and human struggle. It chronicles the perilous journey of Odysseus, the cunning King of Ithaca, as he strives to return home after the fall of Troy. During this ten-year odyssey, Odysseus confronts myriad dangers, both natural and supernatural, that test...
    By Homer
    Paperback
    $2499
    Elsewhere:
    $2800
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Deliver Me from Nowhere (Movie Tie-In)
    An updated movie tie-in edition of the fascinating story behind the making of Bruce Springsteen's most surprising album, Nebraska, and its pivotal role in the rock legend's career. The inspiration for the major motion picture starring Jeremy Allen White and Jeremy Strong. The fascinating story behind the making of Bruce Springsteen's most surprising album, Nebraska, revealing its pivotal role in...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3999
    In Stock
    Ships today

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.