Energetic brushstrokes and vivid colors impart emotional impact to the artists' paintings. An abstract work of art may not depict anything recognizable at all. What na ve painters lack in conventional expertise, with respect to perspective and representational style, is made up for with freshness and simplicity. In his 1924 Surrealist Manifesto , Andr Breton identifies Sigmund Freud's work in psychology as contributing to the founding of Surrealism. Most important was Freud's distinction between the unconscious and conscious realms of the mind.
Surrealists incorporate images from dreams, imagination, and free-association.
By the 1950s, a few artists and intellectuals began to recognize the powerful impact of the mass media on contemporary American culture. By the early 1960s, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Jasper Johns were creating fine art based on elements of commercial and graphic arts imagery. All rights reserved.