Surrealism is an artistic style influenced by Sigmund Freud's views on dreams and the unconscious. The artists who established this style based on these theories and portrayed their thoughts that insanity was the breaking of logical bonds in their work by creating imagery that was realistically impossible, contrasting odd shapes onto unfathomable surroundings. This creative movement had a long-lasting effect on several art forms, including painting, sculpture, literature, photography, and film. Though the structured movement faded, surrealism remains a creative artistic idea.
The surrealism movement was founded in Paris in a 1924 surrealist manifesto by the poet André Breton. Still, it was developed as early as 1917, influenced by Giorgio de Chirico's paintings with his delirious impressions of street locales. Though de Chirico himself abandoned the approach after 1917, German Dadaist Max Ernst transmitted his influence to other surrealism in Paris in 1922 after the Dada period. His collage works were fundamental to the establishment of surrealism.
Joan Miró and André Masson, who would also contribute to the movement, met and bonded with André Breton in 1923. The movement's main aim was to free human thought, language, and experience from the oppressive boundaries of rationalism.
The surrealists were able to create unconscious artwork thanks to automatism, a practice associated with a stream of consciousness or free association. Breton experimented with automatism in writing under the influence of Freud, creating words without thought or planning. Miró and Masson began their pen and ink version in 1924. Breton, Ernst, and others also experimented with hypnosis to access unconscious creativity, but they eventually decided the experiments were risky.
In response to automatism, Ernst began practicing frottage in 1925, using cracks in the floorboard for the surface under his drawing paper. He also applied the concept of oil paints by smearing pigments onto the canvas and then scraping them off. Using this technique, he created his 1927 painting, Forest and Dove.
Heavily influenced by foreign art and children's drawings, Miró developed abstract coding as his surrealist vocabulary in various works. He also adapted the creation of automatism for the first stage of his works. André Masson's 1926 mixed media canvas, Battle of Fishes, is another early example of automatism painting.
The movement grew in the 1920s with the entry of other painters, one of which was
Salvador Dal, a Spanish painter, stood out amongst his peers; he joined the surrealist movement in 1928 and eventually became Sigmund Freud's preferred artist. His paintings depicted self-torturing psycho-sexual undertones, which Freud defined as the unconscious manifesting within the conscious world. His realistic draftsmanship earned him worldwide acclaim for a long time. One of his most famous paintings is The Persistence of Time, completed in 1931 and depicted melting clocks draped on a desolate landscape.
With the outbreak of World War II, Europe's organized surrealist movement disintegrated. Breton, Dali, Ernst, Masson, and others were among the first wave of surrealists who left Europe for New York to escape Nazi persecution. These resulted in the spread across the Atlantic. It eventually found a rebirth in the United States at galleries such as Peggy Guggenheim's gallery, Art of This Century, and the Julien Levy Gallery.
Surrealism's unexpected imagery, deep symbolism, refined painting techniques, and contempt for the convention would continue to influence future generations of artists, some of whose work formed a continuum between surrealism and abstract expressionism.
The surrealism movement was founded in Paris in a 1924 surrealist manifesto by the poet André Breton. Still, it was developed as early as 1917, influenced by Giorgio de Chirico's paintings with his delirious impressions of street locales. Though de Chirico himself abandoned the approach after 1917, German Dadaist Max Ernst transmitted his influence to other surrealism in Paris in 1922 after the Dada period. His collage works were fundamental to the establishment of surrealism.
Joan Miró and André Masson, who would also contribute to the movement, met and bonded with André Breton in 1923. The movement's main aim was to free human thought, language, and experience from the oppressive boundaries of rationalism.
The surrealists were able to create unconscious artwork thanks to automatism, a practice associated with a stream of consciousness or free association. Breton experimented with automatism in writing under the influence of Freud, creating words without thought or planning. Miró and Masson began their pen and ink version in 1924. Breton, Ernst, and others also experimented with hypnosis to access unconscious creativity, but they eventually decided the experiments were risky.
In response to automatism, Ernst began practicing frottage in 1925, using cracks in the floorboard for the surface under his drawing paper. He also applied the concept of oil paints by smearing pigments onto the canvas and then scraping them off. Using this technique, he created his 1927 painting, Forest and Dove.
Heavily influenced by foreign art and children's drawings, Miró developed abstract coding as his surrealist vocabulary in various works. He also adapted the creation of automatism for the first stage of his works. André Masson's 1926 mixed media canvas, Battle of Fishes, is another early example of automatism painting.
The movement grew in the 1920s with the entry of other painters, one of which was
Salvador Dal, a Spanish painter, stood out amongst his peers; he joined the surrealist movement in 1928 and eventually became Sigmund Freud's preferred artist. His paintings depicted self-torturing psycho-sexual undertones, which Freud defined as the unconscious manifesting within the conscious world. His realistic draftsmanship earned him worldwide acclaim for a long time. One of his most famous paintings is The Persistence of Time, completed in 1931 and depicted melting clocks draped on a desolate landscape.
With the outbreak of World War II, Europe's organized surrealist movement disintegrated. Breton, Dali, Ernst, Masson, and others were among the first wave of surrealists who left Europe for New York to escape Nazi persecution. These resulted in the spread across the Atlantic. It eventually found a rebirth in the United States at galleries such as Peggy Guggenheim's gallery, Art of This Century, and the Julien Levy Gallery.
Surrealism's unexpected imagery, deep symbolism, refined painting techniques, and contempt for the convention would continue to influence future generations of artists, some of whose work formed a continuum between surrealism and abstract expressionism.
