Andy Warhol’s Campbell Soup Cans is a realistic interpretation of the consumerist, commercial tendencies in our capitalist society. Through repetition, It embodies the monotony of this kind of lifestyle.

Similarly, Salvador Dali’s The Persistence of Memory uses many melting clocks to show how time is melting away. The setting takes place on a lonely, sandy beach to describe the loneliness of our own lives.

Stylistically, the two works of art differ greatly in terms of color, lighting, and design. While Dali’s painting exudes a romantic and sad image through its sad colors, Warhol’s painting is very blandly drawn, another intentional stylistic choice to represent the blandness of society. Meanwhile, Dali is very expressive in his painting, which emphasizes the sadness all the more.

In a similar fashion, Warhol provides no lighting to his aesthetic because it is merely a depiction, rather than a colorful and expressive portrayal. Dali further saddens the setting through dim lighting with a sunset atmosphere.

Altogether, these paintings emphasize the same idea but use different mediums or style to accomplish this.