Art, obsession, and identity
Surrealism emerged in 1920's Europe. However, the term "surrealism" was coined by French writer Guillaume Apollinaire in 1917.
The practice of Surrealist art strongly emphasized research and experimentation. It promoted the actual work of making art as a way to prompt personal psychic investigation and revelation.
The movement drew heavily on the works of Sigmund Freud regarding the unconscious. The unconscious was seen as a place of genius; a usually untapped realm, but which was possible to enter using certain techniques.
Surrealist art is known for distinctive elements that include fantasy, a metaphysical atmosphere, dreamlike imagery, and a distorted reality with contradictory elements that are eccentric, shocking, or mysterious.
Eerie creatures mixed with mundane, everyday objects using a few newly created techniques at the time such as frottage (rubbing paper with art tools on an uneven surface) and grattage (scratching fresh paint with a sharp blade).
"Surrealism" is derived from the French words sur (on, above) and réalisme (realism, reality). The literal translation is "above or beyond reality." Surrealism's aim was to remove the distinction between dream and reality, reason and madness, objectivity and subjectivity.
Paul Éluard was one of the Surrealist movement's founders. After his time serving in WWI, he returned to Paris and began a literary magazine called Littérature. One of the writers referred to him to contribute was André Breton, and this is how they initially met. A pacifist, Éluard's writing championed freedom.
Dreams, the subconscious, sensuality, religion, science, and his closest personal relationships were the main subjects of his work.
In 1924, the poet and critic published the 'Surrealist Manifesto.' The movement was seen as a way to blend the conscious and unconscious experiences of reality to create an "absolute reality" or "surreality."
One writer, André Breton, thought the unconscious was the wellspring of the imagination. Breton was a major spokesman for the movement. He had trained in medicine and psychiatry, and served in a neurological hospital. While working there, he used Freud's psychoanalytic methods with soldiers suffering from shell shock.
While Frida Kahlo didn't consider herself a Surrealist, art historians certainly classify her work as Surrealism. "I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality," she said.
Kahlo's art combines elements of fantasy, Surrealism, and reality, with icons from her Mexican culture, to create her own form of Magical Realism.
Spanish painter Salvador Dalí joined the Surrealist movement in 1929. He became well known for his avant-garde appearance and eccentric behavior.
From the 1920s onward, Surrealism spread around the world, impacting the visual arts, literature, film, and music. It even influenced political thought and practice, philosophy, and social theory.
Max Ernst was a German painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. He created the Surrealist techniques frottage and grattage, using them in some of his most famous paintings.
He collaborated with other Surrealist artists like Joan Miró, escaping to the US during WWII and marrying fellow Surrealist painter Dorothea Tanning. At one point they moved to Sedona, Arizona, where they began what became an artists' colony there.
Paris was the center of the movement. In 1924, the Centrale Surréaliste (the Bureau for Surrealist Research) was founded. This collective of authors and artists sought to compile all information about how the unconscious mind operates. Under Breton’s direction, it established two archives for material about social life and dream imagery.
Intuitive and automatic processes were engaged to create art work. This meant writing or drawing where the hand moved, 'randomly,' across the paper. Indeed, by engaging chance, you free what's being created from rational control, allowing something to be revealed that might otherwise be repressed by the psyche.
Dorothea Tanning was an American painter, writer, and poet. Her early work was influenced by Surrealism. She would later marry Max Ernst and become part of the circle of émigré Surrealists in Paris.
Spanish artist Joan Miró was one of the first to embrace automatic drawing as a way of undoing past, practiced techniques. But he rejected membership in any artistic movement, while André Breton described him as "the most Surrealist of us all."
Brassaï, real name Gyula Halász, was a Hungarian–French photographer, sculptor, writer, and filmmaker. He photographed many of his artist friends, including Salvador Dalí, Pablo Picasso, and Henri Matisse. While not technically a Surrealist, his work was undoubtedly influenced by the Surrealist set he spent time with in Paris. His photographs explore the intense psychology that is the basis for Surrealist art.
Jean Cocteau was a French poet, novelist, painter, graphic artist, playwright, and filmmaker. He explored myth, contemporary life, dreams, and identity. His body of work broke new ground, finding links between different styles, media, and periods.
Man Ray was an American visual artist who made a significant contribution to the Surrealist movement, even though he was only loosely tied to it.
Many important artists fled Europe for the United States when World War II broke out. Surrealist art continued, and these artists' exile contributed to the developing artform of Abstract Expressionism.
Social movements of the later 20th century were influenced by Surrealism, notably, the Postmodern era. Beat Generation writers were greatly influenced by the Surrealists. Many of these gathered at City Lights bookshop in San Francisco (pictured), which became home to a new generation of untamed poets.
While the original Paris Surrealist Group was disbanded a few years after the death of André Breton, later groups were formed. Many famous artists and writers including Salman Rushdie, Allen Ginsberg, and David Lynch have been inspired by Surrealism, while Samuel Beckett translated many Surrealist poems into English.
Sources: (Britannica) (Stanford University) (Artsy) (ArtLex)
Surrealism's emphasis on free form made it an alternative to the Cubist movement, which was highly formalistic.
For two decades between the wars he lived in Paris, photographing significant members of the art world before being represented in a Surrealist exhibition alongside Jean Arp, Max Ernst, André Masson, Joan Miró, and Pablo Picasso at the Galerie Pierre in Paris, in 1925.
Belgian artist René Magritte moved to Paris in 1927, where he befriended the Surrealist group of creatives. He became a leading figure in the movement, staying in Paris for three years. His work is provocative and unexpected, playing with the boundaries between reality and representation.
A French poet, Reverdy's work influenced the Surrealist writings of the day. However, he shied away from the movement, preferring to remain independent. Breton hailed Reverdy as "the greatest poet of the time" in the first 'Surrealist Manifesto.'
Artists have always sought to push boundaries, to rebel against the status quo. In 1920's Europe, the horrors of WWI had left a serious mark on society. In the aftermath, new forms of expression came into being. Enter Surrealist art, with its emphasis on positive expression. The proponents of Surrealism saw the art form as a rejection of rationalism, the very thing that had led Europe into the Great War. Instead, Surrealism merged the conscious mind with the unconscious, bringing the dream and fantasy worlds into form, to create something that was above everyday reality.
Intrigued? Click on to learn about the origins of the Surrealist art movement, and its main players.
The origins of Surrealist art: a journey through dreams
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Artists have always sought to push boundaries, to rebel against the status quo. In 1920's Europe, the horrors of WWI had left a serious mark on society. In the aftermath, new forms of expression came into being. Enter Surrealist art, with its emphasis on positive expression. The proponents of Surrealism saw the art form as a rejection of rationalism, the very thing that had led Europe into the Great War. Instead, Surrealism merged the conscious mind with the unconscious, bringing the dream and fantasy worlds into form, to create something that was above everyday reality.
Intrigued? Click on to learn about the origins of the Surrealist art movement, and its main players.