What led up to surrealism?

Surrealism grew out of the Dada movement, which was also in rebellion against middle-class complacency. Artistic influences, however, came from many different sources.

Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself.

The Surrealists derived much inspiration from psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud's theories on dreams and the workings of the subconscious mind. Modern can mean related to current times, but it can also indicate a relationship to a particular set of ideas that, at the time of their development, were new or even experimental.

Founded by the poet André Breton in Paris in 1924, Surrealism was an artistic and literary movement. It proposed that the Enlightenment—the influential 17th- and 18th-century intellectual movement that championed reason and individualism—had suppressed the superior qualities of the irrational, unconscious mind.

Paris Dada and the birth of Surrealism

In the years following World War I, Breton and other young French writers established the Dada movement in Paris. Closely involved with members from other Dada groups, including Tristan Tzara, Francis Picabia, and Marcel Duchamp, the Paris Dadaists developed different interests.

The members of the Surrealist movement stood as a reaction against the “rationalism” which they believed had contributed to the horrifying events of World War I.

The Surrealists first came together in 1924 in response to the carnage of World War I. Many of the artists had served in that conflict and became extremely antinationalistic and antimilitary.

In the Surrealists' view, the insane created their own reality to satisfy their deepest desires, and as a result they were happy. The Surrealist goal was not to promote so-called normal psychological lives, but on the contrary to make reality accord with the “abnormality” of unconscious desires.

They were trying to apply the new, psychoanalytic theories of Sigmund Freud to painting and writing. Dalí was well acquainted with Freud and his ideas about sexual repression taking the form of dreams and delusions, and he was fascinated with the Surrealists' attempts to capture these dreams in paint.

Its powerful art continues to offer a new direction for exploration – from its beginnings in Paris in 1924 to today.

This movement aimed to change perceptions of the world by exploring dreams, the unconscious mind and the irrational. The Surrealists often used 'automatic' techniques – spontaneously creating art without conscious thought – to surface images from the unconscious.

André Breton, born on February 18, 1896 in Tinchebray, France, was a French writer and poet, and recognized as the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of Surrealism.

The characteristics of surrealism include strange images or bizarre juxtapositions, unconsciousness as a valid reality, dream-like artwork or symbolic images, automatism techniques to create random effects, distorted figures or biomorphic shapes, depiction of perverse sexuality, and chance or spontaneity.

Shaped by the legacy of Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism emerged in New York after WWII.

Surrealist artists were among the first to deal with more controversial cultural issues such as racism or sexism. Surrealism was not only a style of art but also a way of thinking and a political position. Many Surrealists rejected religion and were instead influenced by Freud.

Freud's concept of the subconscious mind was at the core of the Surrealist movement in art. Surrealism suggests "beyond reality." Surrealists believed that the best art could be created by accessing the subconscious mind rather than the conscious mind.

Like most quality art, surrealism was political. Heavily linked to Karl Marx's revolutionary ideals, the Surrealists believed that the subconscious was the key to political and social revolution, believing that the existing economic/social systems were sub-par.

During and after World War I, flowery Victorian language was blown apart and replaced by more sinewy and R-rated prose styles. In visual art, Surrealists and Expressionists devised wobbly, chopped-up perspectives and nightmarish visions of fractured human bodies and splintered societies slouching toward moral chaos.

The Second World War above all else showed humanity its darker side in all its horrific and gruesome glory. Such horror cannot always be delt with in a conscious and rational way; therefore Surrealism was created as a means to partly exploring this with its shocking, provocative imagery.

For example, the Harry Potter books include a lot of strange and unusual characters, creatures, and events. And yet they would not be classified as surrealist. Surrealist fiction isn't concerned with making the unreal feel real. Instead, writing surrealist fiction means fully embracing the strangeness in the story.

Surrealism sees the merging of reality and the dreamlike image to create work which could suggest either an extended version of reality, or an extended version of the dream. The Surrealist movement was engendered by the earlier Dada movement; a reactionary movement to the First World War.

Both the way of depiction and the goals of the individual artistic movement are very different: While Realism aims to make the viewer conscious of reality without idealization, Surrealism develops around the subconscious and fantastic.

At the age of 16, Dali famously said "I'll be a genius, and the world will admire me. Perhaps I'll be despised and misunderstood, but I'll be a genius, a great genius, I'm certain of it." He spent the rest of his life proving this statement, and as he predicted, he was termed a madman by some, and genius by others.

Frida Kahlo combined realism, surrealism, and fantasy with icons from her Mexican culture to create magical art. One of her favorite subjects was her own beautiful face. Art historians classify Kahlo's art as Surrealism, although Kahlo herself didn't consider herself a surrealist.

The Surrealist art movement greatly influenced art, literature, culture, and politics. Surrealism is a creative endeavor aimed at releasing the imagination. Surrealism is as dynamic as it is delicate, and it is still alive and well today.

Key facts about Surrealism

Surrealism is a style of art inspired by dreams and hidden thoughts . Surrealism started in Paris, France in the 1920s. Salvador Dali is one of the most well-known Surrealist painters. Other surrealist artists include Frida Kahlo, Rene Magritte, Dorothea Tanning and Max Ernst.