SURREALISM
1916 – 1922
- Many Dadaists became Surrealists
- Leader was artist Andre Breton, who felt Dada was too absurd and
destructive and sought an art form that was more positive
- Under his leadership artists wanted to create an art based on the
irrational chance in art
- Surrealism means ‘above or beyond reality’
- Surrealism was born from the subconscious and had its origins in
automatic / spontaneous writing
- Surrealism rests on the belief that in the superior reality of certain forms
of association, in the omnipotence of the dream and the disinterested
play of thought
Exquisite Cadavers:
- This was a favorite game of the
Surrealists to unlock the subconscious
mind.
- Page is divided into 4 pages and each
person draws on different sections.
CHARACTERISTICS:
- They explored the subconscious mind, rather than the conscious mind (real world)
- They look at the importance of the dream world over the waking rational world
- The most common themes in their works were those often supressed by the
conscious mind, namely those to do with sexuality, violence and death
- Freud’s view that man’s sexual fantasies appear in dream images influenced the
Surrealists and they often used symbols with a sexual connotation: fruit = female;
columns = male
- Surrealism wanted to conquer and escape the chaos of their times by using a power
that is higher than reality, namely the surreality
- There are two tendencies in Surrealism: automatism and the dream world
1916 – 1922
- Many Dadaists became Surrealists
- Leader was artist Andre Breton, who felt Dada was too absurd and
destructive and sought an art form that was more positive
- Under his leadership artists wanted to create an art based on the
irrational chance in art
- Surrealism means ‘above or beyond reality’
- Surrealism was born from the subconscious and had its origins in
automatic / spontaneous writing
- Surrealism rests on the belief that in the superior reality of certain forms
of association, in the omnipotence of the dream and the disinterested
play of thought
Exquisite Cadavers:
- This was a favorite game of the
Surrealists to unlock the subconscious
mind.
- Page is divided into 4 pages and each
person draws on different sections.
CHARACTERISTICS:
- They explored the subconscious mind, rather than the conscious mind (real world)
- They look at the importance of the dream world over the waking rational world
- The most common themes in their works were those often supressed by the
conscious mind, namely those to do with sexuality, violence and death
- Freud’s view that man’s sexual fantasies appear in dream images influenced the
Surrealists and they often used symbols with a sexual connotation: fruit = female;
columns = male
- Surrealism wanted to conquer and escape the chaos of their times by using a power
that is higher than reality, namely the surreality
- There are two tendencies in Surrealism: automatism and the dream world
