Salvador Dali employed extensive symbolism in his work. For instance, the hallmark "soft watches" that first appear in The Persistence of Memory suggest Einstein's theory that time is relative and not fixed. The idea for clocks functioning symbolically in this way came to Dali when he was staring at a runny piece of Camembert cheese on a hot day in August.

Salvador Dali uses two of his hallmark symbols—iconic melting watches and insects, set against the Spanish coastline— to create “Soft Watch at the Moment of First Explosion,” a study of disintegration prompted by his dismay over the use of atomic weapons. With a personality as non-conformist as his artwork, Dali singlehandedly forged a Surrealistic style defined by virtuoso realism and bold, disturbingly dreamlike fantasy. Strongly influenced by Sigmund Freud’s theories regarding dreams and the subconscious, Dali expresses the deepest fears, hopes and frustrations of his era in a way that is uniquely his own.