Surrealism

SurrealismAnna Bushey

Stefan Turrentine

Main Characteristics

Surreal = having the disorienting, hallucinatory quality of a dream; unreal

Ambiguous Dream like quality Based off of the unconscious mind

How it started

Stemmed from Dadaism, Romanticism and Avant-garde movement

Triggered by post WW1 and disgust with Victorian era

Core ideas came from Freudian theory/Psychoanalysis

Freudian Theory Unconscious factors contribute to waking

emotions/behavior ● Id, Ego, Superego

Creates tension, guilt, urges, fantasies

Released by dream interpretation, free association, and hypnosis

Branches

Automatism - The performance of actions without conscious thought or intention

●Focused more on feelings ●More abstract

Veristic surrealism- art represented a specific truth or reality ● Interpreted and studied

Techniques

Collage

FumageCubomania

Major Contributors Andre Breton- Surrealist writer Salvador Dali- Surrealist painter Man Ray-Surrealist photographer Rene Magritte- Surrealist painter

Andre Breton Officially started Surrealist movement in 1924 ● Manifesto of Surrealism Influenced by early symbolist and philosophical

painters Founded International Exhibition of Surrealism in

New York

Teifidancer

Tortured

Salvador Dali Spanish Surrealist writer/artist, joined movement

in 1929 Began painting at 6yrs Emerged as the movements Most Recognizable

The Persistence of Memory-Salvador Dali (1931)

Soft Construction with Boiled Beans – Salvador Dali (1936)

Rene Magritte Key figure in Belgian Movement through the

1920s Paintings forced viewers to observe closely Focused on realistic manner “Put the real world on trial

The lovers – Rene Magritte (1928)

The Son of Man - Rene Magritte (1964)

The Treachery of Images – Rene Magritte (1928)

Georgio De Chirico Development of surrealist art struck

immeasurable importance Characterized as dark menacing empty town

squares paintings Surrealist 1925

Hector and Andromache

The Great Metaphysician

Max Ernst German Painter/Sculptor Form the Cologne Dada group Paintings Extraordinary imagination

The Elephant Celebes

The Inspiration Engine

Criticisms Feminist group largely against surrealist ideas ● Depicted women as sexual symbols

Sigmund Freud was surprising critique ● Believed the movement was hypocritical and inaccurate

End of Movement Collectively ended with death of Andre Breton

(1966)

Small groups kept surrealism alive ● Contributed to post modernism era

Surrealism expanded to many areas of the fine arts

“One must love first, there will be time afterwards to analyze the reasons”

- Andre Breton