When was Surrealism most popular?

Because nothing was more popular than Surrealism during the 1920s and 1930s, almost all famous painters of the time produced surrealist works.

Throughout the 1930s, Surrealism continued to become more visible to the public at large. A Surrealist group developed in London and, according to Breton, their 1936 London International Surrealist Exhibition was a high-water mark of the period and became the model for international exhibitions.

But the art movement was actually far more diverse than is widely known, spanning various disciplines, styles, and geographies from 1924 until its end in 1966.

The term Surrealism was first coined in 1917 by the art critic and poet Guillaume Apollinaire, and in 1924 it was used by the writer and theorist André Breton to describe a politically radical movement. This movement aimed to change perceptions of the world by exploring dreams, the unconscious mind and the irrational.

Surrealism was a movement in visual art and literature that flourished in Europe between World Wars I and II.

Who Are the 6 Most Famous Surrealist Artists?

Surrealism is the most important and revolutionary movement of the 20th century. It influenced so much of the art made after the Second World War, from its revolutionary art-making techniques and its conceptualism, to its invoking of chance, the subconscious, the inner mind.

The exhibition entitled El surrealismo en España (Surrealism in Spain) takes a look back at the output in Spain, between 1925 and the Civil War (1936-1939), of almost fifty artists. The period is defined by, or evolves alongside, French Surrealism.

Surrealism is considered to have ended with the death of André Breton in 1966. However, the movement continues to inspire countless contemporary artists today. Artists like David Lynch, Julie Curtiss and Mary Reid Kelley, to name but a few, work with a great deal of Surrealist imagery and techniques.

The Rise and Decline of Surrealism

The emigration of many Surrealists to the Americas during WWII spread their ideas further. Following the war, however, the group's ideas were challenged by the rise of Existentialism, which, while also celebrating individualism, was more rationally based than Surrealism.

Surrealism officially began with Dadaist writer André Breton's 1924 Surrealist manifesto, but the movement formed as early as 1917, inspired by the paintings of Giorgio de Chirico, who captured street locations with a hallucinatory quality.

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.

Replacing elaborate styles associated with Victorianism, a new artistic movement called Art Deco flourished throughout the 1920s. Art Deco style was applied not only to art but also architecture, furniture design, fashion, advertising and many other areas. Art Deco was minimalist and streamlined.

Surrealism art started largely due to Dada Movement aftermath of WW 1. In 1920's a cultural movement began best known for its Visual artworks and writing.

Poet Guillaume Apollinaire first used the term “surrealist” in 1917 to describe Jean Cocteau's ballet Parade, and the word appeared in his own play Les Mamelles de Tirésias.

The Origins of Surrealism

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.

Salvador Dali. The King of surrealism | Digital Art Center Artplay Media.

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

Almost 100 years after André Breton's First Manifesto of Surrealism (1924), Surrealism has never been so visible. There have been sell-out exhibitions at some of the world's leading museums, prominent displays in the otherwise ultra-contemporary Venice Biennale and fast-rising sales at auction and commercial galleries.

Surrealism aims to revolutionise human experience. It balances a rational vision of life with one that asserts the power of the unconscious and dreams. The movement's artists find magic and strange beauty in the unexpected and the uncanny, the disregarded and the unconventional.

While some may argue that the original movement ended with the death of Breton in 1966, the artistic legacy of the movement lives on in contemporary surrealist artists' work. Whether you're a fan of Photography, Sculpture or Painting, there's a huge variety of surrealist art available to buy or rent.

While surrealism started out as a movement among Parisian artists in the 1920s through the 1940s, it has since grown into a literary genre.

Salvador Dalí was a Spanish Surrealist painter and printmaker known for exploring subconscious imagery. Arguably, his most famous painting is The Persistence of Memory (1931), depicting limp melting watches.

Magritte laid the groundwork for a new form of illusionistic Surrealism developed by Salvador Dalí, Paul Delvaux and Yves Tanguy. With Dalí's move from Spain to Paris in 1929, he produced his first Surrealist paintings and expanded on Magritte's dream imagery with his own erotically-inspired, hallucinatory visions.

Madrid is famous for its art scene and Spain is home to many surrealist masterpieces. Surrealism is an avant-garde movement from the 1920s that can be found in both art and literature, drawing on the unconscious mind to connect dreams and reality.

René Magritte's The Son of Man is possibly the most iconic surrealist painting of all time, as it offers numerous reinterpretations, appearances and references within the field of popular culture - from Michael Jackson's music video Scream to Alejandro Jodorowsky's film Holy Mountain.

It's the roaring '20s again, and designers are grasping onto dreamy, other-worldly vibes. Surrealism is everywhere (again) in fashion.