1979 Salvador Dalí Exhibition Poster – Centre Pompidou, The Persistence of Memory

An original vintage exhibition poster for Salvador Dalí’s 1979–1980 retrospective at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. It features an enlarged detail of The Persistence of Memory, his famous 1931 painting of melting pocket watches. The turquoise clocks, warm orange landscape and bold exhibition lettering make this a particularly recognisable piece of Surrealist exhibition advertising. The dates printed on the poster are 18 December 1979 to 14 April 1980.
Dalí associated his soft watches with melting Camembert cheese, while the ants suggest decay. The Pompidou exhibition was his first major retrospective in France and included 160 paintings and 219 drawings.
Printing method: colour offset lithography on paper.
Dimensions: 25.5 in x 18 in (70 cm x 50 cm)
Condition: noticeable creasing and surface scuffs, rough edges, several edge tears, small areas of paper loss, pinholes and some marks to the reverse. See photos for detail.

Salvador Dalí (1904–1989) was a Spanish artist from Catalonia and one of the best-known figures in Surrealism. He painted impossible, dreamlike scenes with remarkably precise detail, making strange objects appear convincingly real. The Persistence of Memory is a defining example: familiar pocket watches become soft and distorted. This poster shows how recognisable that imagery had become by the time of his major Paris retrospective.

What is special about exhibition and gallery posters is that they are an affordable way of getting good, unique art on the walls, as although it is not an artists original, neither is it something that has been mass reproduced.

Because of the age of these posters, there are areas of wear and tear, particularly on the edges. I have done my best to take photos where they are torn. The good news is that when framed, the tears press up well against glass, and edges can be hidden by mats. Any wear picked up from years are part of the charm.

These posters are sent as unframed. They are delivered in a cardboard tube for protection.

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