Art History News: Surrealism and the Dream: Salvador Dalí, Paul Delvaux, René Magritte, Max Ernst Wednesday, September 4, 2013 Surrealism and the Dream: Salvador Dalí, Paul Delvaux, René Magritte, Max Ernst From 8 October 2013 to 12 January 2014, the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza is presenting the first monographic exhibition on Surrealism and the Dream. Including a total of 163 works by the great Surrealist masters –André Breton, Salvador Dalí, Paul Delvaux, Yves Tanguy, Joan Miró, René Magritte, Max Ernst, André Masson, Jean Arp and Man Ray– the exhibition will offer a thematic presentation of the Surrealists’ visual interpretation of the world of dreams. The works in the exhibition are loaned from museums, galleries and private collections around the world including the Centre Pompidou (Paris), Tate Modern (London), the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), among many others.

Surrealism should not be considered just one more art movement: rather, it was an attitude to life essentially based on a vision of interior images accessed through the flow of desire. Its ideas have had a key influence on all subsequent art and on the contemporary mindset. The present exhibition aims to demonstrate that this influence has its most profound roots in the Surrealist connection between dream and image. In order to do so, the exhibition will include examples from the wide range of media in which this link is evident: painting, drawing, graphic work, collage, objects, sculptures, photography and film. The Surrealists’ creative horizon encompassed all art forms that could enrich and expand the mind, and its doors were equally open to painters, sculptors, photographers and filmmakers who were the first to adopt the fusion of expressive genres with a multimedia aesthetic during a period of major technological advances in the production and reproduction of images. From this viewpoint, the role played by film was crucial. The darkness of the cinema brought about an encounter with the unexpected and the amazing of an unpremeditated and unconscious kind. Looking at the silver screen was the realm of waking dreams. According to André Breton, it was in cinemas that “the only totally modern mystery was celebrated”.

In the present exhibition the cinema is represented by seven video installations that will project excerpts from selected Surrealist films including Un chien d’Andalou (1929) by Louis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí, in which the idea of alienation or rootlessness – a key concept in the Surrealist aesthetic - is taken to its furthest limit. The film discards any narrative ordering in order to unfold a flow of images that is as open as a dream. The significant presence of female artists in the exhibition is another important feature. For the first time, women artists encountered a key role within the context of Surrealism and one that gradually extended beyond their initial function as muses, objects of desire or companions. Many of them developed a creative personality that challenged or differed from those of their male colleagues. The large number (eleven) of women artists represented in the present exhibition, including Claude Cahun, Kay Sage, Nadja, Toyen, Dora Maar, Leonor Fini, Remedios Varo, Dorothea Tanning, Ángeles Santos, Meret Oppenheim and Leonora Carrington, offers proof of the unique nature of their contribution to the Surrealist representation of dreams.

The other half of life The Surrealists’ most important contribution to the artistic concept of the dream lies in the way that they ceased to consider it a void or a hole in consciousness, rather seeing it as the other half of life and a conscious plane of experience. Knowledge and liberation of this plane was central to the enrichment and expansion of the interior world, which was the principal aim of these artists. In this sense, Goya, with his depiction of the dream as a realm of human reality devoid of the supernatural or mythical connotations that were present in earlier art, crucially embarked on a direction that would be pursued by the Surrealists a century later. From the dream to art The liberation of the visual arts from a mimetic reproduction of exterior reality was one of the factors that brought about the transformation of modern art, particularly from the second half of the 19th century with the artistic avant-gardes. One of the most crucial aspects of the Surrealists’ contribution to this transformation was their championing of the representation of the dream world in art. In order to do so, they looked for a place in which dream and reality came together, moving to and from between the interior and exterior.

Through their artistic endeavours the Surrealists thus transcribed the materials of the dream in visual form. The visual material in Surrealism and the Dream is divided into eight thematic sections: 1. Those who opened up the paths (of dreams); 2. I is another (variations and metamorphoses of identity); 3. The infinite conversation (the dream is the overcoming of Babel: all languages communicate with each other, all languages are the same); 4. Landscapes of a different place (an alternative universe that nonetheless forms part of the existing one), 5. Irresistible perturbations (nightmare, anxiety); 6. Beyond good and evil (a world ruled by neither morality nor reason); 7. Where everything is possible (omnipotence, everything is possible in dreams); 8. The harsh light of desire (the sex drive without the restraints of conscious life). More Images: Fragment: Paul Delvaux. The Dream – Le rêve, 1935. Oil on canvas. 150 x 175 cm. Private collection. © VEGAP, Madrid, 2013.

Posted by Eyeconart:Modern Surrealism Salvador Dali The artistic style of surrealism began as an official movement shortly after the end of the first world war. In its infancy, it was a literary movement, but soon found its greatest expression in the visual arts. In general, the style focuses on psychological states which resemble dreams and fantasy. The artists were influenced by psychological research of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, who sought to explain the workings of the mind through analysis of the symbols of dreams. Instead of using psychoanalysis to cure themselves of any disturbances, the surrealists saw the unconscious as a wellspring of untapped creative ideas. "A dream that is not interpreted is like a letter that is not opened" is a famous quote from Freud. The surrealists were less interested in interpretation of their dream symbols than they were in the expressive capacity of such states. The surrealists admired the artwork of the insane for its freedom of expression, as well as artworks created by children. They admired previous artists such as Henri Rousseau, whose naive and self-taught works always contained an element of surreal fantasy.

In addition, they looked for inspiration from masters of the Renaissance such as Hieronymous Bosch and Pieter Brueghel, whose fantastic elements can easily be described as surreal. The word "surreal", in fact, means "above reality". In other words, the artists believed that there was an element of truth which is revealed by our subconscious minds which supercedes the reality of our everyday consciousness. There are actually two branches of surrealism. One group focused on creating realistic representations of dream-like states; the other preferred an abstract style. For now, I will focus on three masters of representaional surrealism. The Persistence of Memory 1931 Sleep 1937 Salvador Dali is, without doubt, the most famous member of the surrealist group. His painting, The Persistence of Memory almost stands alone as a symbol of the movement. The melted clocks represent the strange warping of time which occurs when we enter the dream state. The stretched image of a man's face which is at the center of the painting is believed to be that of Dali himself, and the landscape which stretches out behind the scene may perhaps represent his birthplace, Catalonia. Dali's painting of Sleep is also successful in its suggestion of the precarious balance of sleep.

We realize that if a single crutch were to fall, the dreamer will awake. Temptation of St. Anthony Metamorphis of Narcissus 1937 Dali frequently made reference to themes which have been repeated throughout the history of art. The Temptation of St. Anthony was a theme frequently taken up by some of the more fantasy-oriented Renaissance artists (Matthais Grunewald, for example). In Dali's version, the saint has been walking through a desert when he is confronted with a monstous horse and a team of elephants on stilt-like legs. There are also images of sexuality which the saint must oppose, using his cross to ward off the vision. The Metamorphosis of Narcissus plays on the classical theme about a beautiful young man who admires his own reflection in a pool of water. Transfixed by his own beauty, he turns to stone. Always the master of illusion, Dali creates a double-image, where the boy's form is repeated as an enlarged hand holding an egg which bursts forth with a narcissus flower.

The Lovers 1928 Collective Invention 1934 Another member of the surrealist group whose works have become synonymous with the movement was Rene Magritte. This Belgian artist's temperment was opposite to that of the flaming eccentricity of Dali. He lived a quiet and "normal" life, married only one woman, and was very much a middle-class working man. Though connected to the movement, he separated himself from any the less provincial activities - preferring to work at home (in his dining-room, in fact!). Despite his seeming bougouise lifestyle, his works are extraordinary in their sense of fantasy and surreal reality. The Lovers may be a visual depiction of the idea "love is blind". I personally interpret it as the mystery that veils our understanding of a lover, who is never completely known to us. Collective Invention may be a play on the image of a mermaid. If a woman can have fins for legs, why not an inverted version? Cle de Champs 1931 Portrait of Edward James 1937 Magritte constantly challenged our preconceptions about reality. His works contain extraordinary juxtapositions of ordinary objects or an unusual context that gives new meaning to familiar things.

He often used the window frame as a suggestion of the illusion of our senses, for a painting in itself has been traditionally used as a window on some other world- as if we could look through the flat surface of a canvas to a three dimensional reality. The idea of a man looking into a mirror to see the back of his own head also plays upon our normal expectations (the man is the young Edward James, once the world's largest collector of surrealist art, and a friend to Magritte). Personal Values 1951 Golconde 1953 By altering the scale of objects in his paintings, Magritte's work gives an immediate sense of surreal absurdity. Everyday objects become magical in his painting, Personal Values. In Golconde, Magritte paints himself in endless repetition. In trench coat and bowler cap, he becomes a symbol for "everyman", perhaps commenting on the anonymity of city life. Carte Blanche 1965 Empire of the Lights 1954 Magritte constantly challenges our sense of time and space.

In Carte Blanch, he manipulates the space so that we have an illusion of a woman and horse who are simultaneously in front of and hidden by trees (even hidden behind the empty space between trees). Empire of the Lights is more subtle in its playfulness. It may take a moment for viewers to realize that the daytime sky does not fit the lighting situation of the night scene below. His cunning creativity places Magritte as one of my favorite artists of all time. Max Ernst Frida Kahlo Leonora Carrington Though surrealist painters admired women to a degree of near-worship, they were seen more as a muse to their own creativity instead of creative masters in their own right. The three women above were surrealists in every sense of the word, but were not an integral part of the surrealist movement, which was active especially in Paris. All three of these women lived and worked in Mexico, though Kahlo was the only one of the three who was born there. The others escaped from Nazi occupation throughout Europe by traveling to Mexico. They and several other artists began a small tangendental surrealist movement. Their works continue to influence modern painters in Mexico who work in a fantasy-oriented vein.

Dawn Horse (Self Portrait) 1936 Ferret Race 1950 Leonora Carrington was very similar to Varo's in many respects. Born in England to a wealthy family, Leonora learned at a very early age the injustice of society. Since her parents were both very strict Catholics, they sent her away from convent to convent and then to boarding school. The young Leonora was was a debutante, a girl's school rebel and a runaway. After running away from home to become an artist, she met Max Ernst, who left his wife for Carrington. The couple lived together until the outbreak of WWII, when Ernst (a German citizen) was taken prisoner as an enemy alien. She tried in vein to have him released, then suffered a nervous collapse. For a short time she was put in a mental institution (at the order of her family), was given sedative drugs, but soon escaped. She married a friend who protects her from further incarceration. After moving to Mexico, they soon divorce ( the marriage is no longer necessary, but they remain friends). She remarries, has a couple of children, and continues to paint surreal visions combining mythological stories and childhood fantasies.

She also wrote incredible, surrealist stories (which later become published and achieve critical acclaim). While in Mexico, she developed a life long-friendship with Remedios Varo. She also befriends Edward James, the eccentric English millionaire who collected her art (he was also the incredible architect of Las Pozas , in the rainforest of Mexico). As far as I know, she is still alive and painting. Like Varo, she is also more famous in Mexico than in America or Europe. To view the surrealist artworks of Frida Kahlo, go to the next page, which also includes works by her social realist husband, Diego Rivera Rene Magritte Biography, Art, and Analysis of Works | The Art Story Web Services & Hosting by The Computer Studio | Designed by DesArtLab Surrealism Surrealism Perhaps the most influential avant-garde movement of the century, Surrealism was founded in Paris in 1924 by a small group of writers and artists who sought to channel the unconscious as a means to unlock the power of the imagination. Much influenced by Freud, they believed that the conscious mind repressed the power of the imagination.

Influenced also by Marx, they hoped that the psyche had the power to reveal the contradictions in the everyday world and spur on revolution. Conceptual Art Conceptual Art Conceptual art describes an influential movement that first emerged in the mid-1960s and prized ideas over the formal or visual components of traditional works of art. The artists often challenged old concepts such as beauty and quality; they also questioned the conventional means by which the public consumed art; and they rejected the conventional art object in favor of diverse mediums, ranging from maps and diagrams to texts and videos. Futurism Futurism Futurism was the most influential Italian avant-garde movement of the twentieth century. Dedicated to the modern age, it celebrated speed, movement, machinery and violence. At first influenced by Neo-Impressionism, and later by Cubism, some of its members were also drawn to mass culture and nontraditional forms of art. Cubism Cubism Cubism was developed by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque between 1907-1911, and it continued to be highly influential long after its decline.

This classic phase has two stages: 'Analytic', in which forms seem to be 'analyzed' and fragmented; and 'Synthetic', in which pre-existing materials such as newspaper and wood veneer are collaged to the surface of the canvas. Purism Purism Purism, an offshoot of Cubism, was a style advocated by architect Le Corbusier and artist Amadee Ozenfant. Frequently abstract, Purist works contain smooth geometric forms, even paint application, and machine-like shapes. Jean Metzinger Jean Metzinger Jean Metzinger was a French artist who was initially influenced by Fauvism and Impressionism, but then turned to Cubism. Metzinger was a member of the Section d'Or group of artists. In 1912, together with Albert Gleizes, he created the first major treatise on Cubism, Du Cubisme. Fernand Léger Fernand Léger Influenced by Cubism and Futurism, the French painter Fernand Léger developed a unique style of Cubism using cylindrical and other geometric forms with mechanically smooth edges. Often colorful and punctuated by patterns, his paintings range from still lifes and figures to abstract compositions.

Giorgio de Chirico Giorgio de Chirico Giorgio de Chirico was a Greek-Italian painter and sculptor commonly associated with Surrealism. Initially discovered by Picasso and Apollinaire in France, de Chirico's best known Surrealist paintings incorporated metaphysical subject matter and sculptural still-life. Instead of land- or cityscapes, de Chirico's art is more emblematic of a dreamscape. André Breton André Breton André Breton, author of the 1924 Surrealist Manifesto, was an influential theorizer of both Dada and Surrealism. Born in France, he emigrated to New York during World War II, where he greatly influenced the Abstract Expressionists. Max Ernst Max Ernst Max Ernst was a German Dadaist and Surrealist whose paintings and collages combine dream-like realism, automatic techniques, and eerie subject matter. Salvador Dalí Salvador Dalí Salvador Dalí was a Spanish Surrealist painter who combined a hyperrealist style with dream-like, sexualized subject matter. His collaborations with Hollywood and commercial ventures, alongside his notoriously dramatic personality, earned him scorn from some Surrealist colleagues.

Fauvism Fauvism Fauvism was an early twentieth-century art movement founded by Henri Matisse and André Derain. Labeled as "wild beasts", Fauve artists favored vibrant colors and winding gestural strokes across the canvas. Pop Art Pop Art British artists of the 1950s were the first to make popular culture the dominant subject of their art, and this idea became an international phenomenon in the 1960s. But the Pop art movement is most associated with New York, and artists such as Andy Warhol, who broke with the private concerns of the Abstract Expressionists, and turned to themes which touched on public life and mass society. Andy Warhol Andy Warhol Andy Warhol was an American Pop artist best known for his prints and paintings of consumer goods, celebrities, and photographed disasters. One of the most famous and influential artists of the 1960s, he pioneered compositions and techniques that emphasized repetition and the mechanization of art. Martin Kippenberger Martin Kippenberger Martin Kippenberger was a German artist born in 1953.

During the last 10 years of his life, he created a series of drawings on hotel stationery - the 'hotel drawings.' Three of his pieces were used as cover art for the Welsh band Manic Street Preachers. Robert Gober Robert Gober Robert Gober is an American artist whose work often relates to domestic and familiar objects such as sinks, doors and legs. Despite their appearance, his sculptures are meticulously handcrafted. He represented the United States at the 2001 Venice Biennale. Paul Eluard Paul Eluard Paul Eluard was a French poet, and one of the original participants in the French Surrealism movement, forming strong ties with the likes of Breton, Aragon and Ernst. Eluard was also active in the French Resistance during World War II, but later in life joined the Communist Party, became a Stalin sympathizer and renounced the Surrealism movement. Edward James Edward James Edward James was an English poet known for his patronage of the Surrealist art movement. He financially supported Dalí for two years and allowed Rene Magritte to stay in his London house to paint. He appears in two of Magritte's paintings.

Impressionism Impressionism A movement in painting that first surfaced in France in the 1860s, it sought new ways to describe effects of light and movement, often using rich colors. The Impressionists were drawn to modern life and often painted the city, but they also captured landscapes and scenes of middle-class leisure-taking in the suburbs. Marcel Broodthaers Marcel Broodthaers Marcel Broodthaers was a Belgian poet, filmmaker and conceptual artist who was born in 1924. He worked principally with found objects and collage, which often contained text. His most noted work was an installation, Musee d'Art Moderne, Department of Eagles, which began in his Brussels home. Joseph Kosuth Joseph Kosuth Joseph Kosuth is an American conceptual artist, philosopher and essayist. His most celebrated work is One and Three Chairs (1965), which doubles as a piece of commentary on Plato's Theory of Forms. He is likewise well-known for his 1969 essay "Art after Philosophy," considered a key text of postmodern art writing. John Baldessari John Baldessari John Baldessari, born in 1931, is an American conceptual artist.

He often combines image and languages in his art. His early works were canvas paintings that were empty except for painted statements derived from contemporary art theory. His juxtaposition of image and text is reminiscent of Rene Magritte's surrealist paintings. Paul-Gustave van Hecke Paul-Gustave van Hecke Paul-Gustave van Hecke was a Belgian art patron and critic during the first half of the twentieth century. A friend to Rene Magritte, Max Ernst, and Man Ray, he founded Gallery L'Epoque in October 1927 and was the director of Variétés magazine. E. L. T. Mesens E. L. T. Mesens E. L. T. Mesens was an artist and writer associated with the Belgian Surrealist movement. Mesens organized the first surrealist exhibition in his Belgian gallery in 1934. He also co-organized the London International Surrealist Exhibition. He became the director of the London Gallery and the chief editor of the London Bulletin. Paul Nouge Paul Nouge Paul Nouge was a Belgian poet and philosopher.

A prominent member of the Surrealist school in Belgium, he was a friend and associate of fellow artists Louis Scutenaire, Marcel Marien, and Rene Magritte. He was a founding member of the Belgian Communist Party. Appropriation Art Appropriation Art Appropriation art adopts, borrows, recycles or samples aspects from visual culture. The term appropriation refers to the use of borrowed elements in the creation of a new work. Appropriation artists borrow ideas, images, objects, and elements from pop culture to create their art. Surrealism�The Art of Dreams�Dal� and Magritte - Art Appreciation Surrealismï¿½The Art of Dreamsï¿½Dalï¿½ and Magritte The Surrealist movement in art originated at the end of WWI. I will discuss the works of Surrealist painters Salvador Dalï¿½ and Renï¿½ Magritte. The French writer Guillaume Apollinaire coined the word "surrealism" based on a 1917 ballet. Jean Cocteauï¿½s ballet "Parade" had stage designs by Pablo Picasso and music by Erik Satie.

Apollinaire wrote that the performance revealed "a truth beyond the real, a kind of sur-realism." Following Apollinaire, another French writer, Andrï¿½ Breton, wrote about the same artistic style. Breton is considered to be the founding father of the Surrealist movement and the one most responsible for its promotion. By the mid 1920s, artists such as Salvador Dalï¿½ and Renï¿½ Magritte began producing "dream paintings." An Italian artist who greatly influenced the Surrealist artists but never joined the movement was Giorgio de Chirico. In th early 1910s he began painting unrelated objects placed in odd architectural settings. During WWI, Sigmund Freud was studying the human mind. It was deliberate, and not a coincidence that Freudï¿½s findings and Surrealism co-existed. Other influences to the Surrealist artists were silent movies and detective novels. These would be interpreted as wonderful narratives in art. Salvador Dalï¿½ was a proponent of "dream painting" and was significantly inspired by Freud. Dalï¿½s work is very detail oriented and his objects are done in small scale. His use of color is quite extraordinary.

I remember seeing "The Persistence of Memory" at MOMA in NY and thinking how a small painting could have such an impact on the history of art because of the subject matter, its precise execution, and the use of a wonderful array of color. When one thinks of the artist Renï¿½ Magritte, one envisions a bowler hat. Magritte used ordinary objects such as a bowler hat or an apple and created something extraordinary and ethereal. In 1964 Magritte would paint "The Great War," a painting of a man wearing a bowler hat with a green apple obstructing his view and our view of his features. This famous painting was very visible in the movie "The Thomas Crown Affair" with actors Pierce Brosnan and Renee Russo. If youï¿½ve watched the movie, youï¿½ll remember how Magritteï¿½s painting set a trend and tempo for the story which is unforgettable. Of course Salvador Dalï¿½ and Renï¿½ Magritte are only a few of the Surrealist painters. Others included, but not mentioned in this article are: Max Ernst, Marc Chagall, Francis Bacon, and Jean Mirï¿½.

Surrealism Surrealism RENÉ MAGRITTE (1898-1967) The Philosopher's Lamp, 1936 (Oil on Canvas) Surrealism was the 20th century art movement that explored the hidden depths of the 'unconscious mind'. The Surrealists rejected the rational world as 'it only allows for the consideration of those facts relevant to our experience'. [1] They sought a new kind of reality, a heightened reality that they called 'surreality', which was found in the world of images drawn from their dreams and imagination. SALVADOR DALI (1904-1989) Soft Construction with Boiled Beans (Premonition of Civil War), 1936 (Oil on Canvas) Surrealism was founded in Paris where many of the Dadaists had settled after the Great War. It was originally a literary movement but its unusual imagery was more suited to the visual arts and to those artists who were searching for a more consistent approach to art as an antidote to the chaos of Dada .

MAX ERNST (1891-1976) The Eye of Silence, 1943-44 (oil on canvas) Surrealism was similar in character to Dadaism as both were hostile to the traditions of academic art and the values that it stood for. The main difference between the two movements was in their method of opposition. While the Dadaists were content to blast the establishment with a scattergun of negativity, the Surrealists were in search of a more creative and positive philosophy. The Roots of Surrealism HIERONYMUS BOSCH (1450-1516) Detail of the right side panel from the triptych 'The Garden of Earthly Delights', c.1480-1505 (Oil on panel) The Dadaists had disregarded all art of the past but the Surrealists were more selective. They proclaimed that 'surreality' had always been a part of human consciousness and claimed that certain artists whose imagery was rooted in fantasy and symbolism were evidence of this.

GIUSEPPE ARCIMBOLDO (1527-1593) Vertumnus, c.1590-91 (Oil on panel) They commandeered particular artists, such as Hieronymus Bosch, Giuseppe Archimboldo, Goya, Henry Fuseli, Gustave Moreau, Odilon Redon and genres such as Folk, Primitive, Ethnic and what we now call 'Outsider Art', as their artistic ancestors. GIORGIO DE CHIRICO (1888-1978) Melancholia, 1916 (Oil on canvas) The most immediate forerunner of Surrealist movement was the Italian artist, Giorgio de Chirico who developed a style of painting called 'Pittura Metafisica' (Metaphysical Art). His aim was to create images that provided a doorway to a world beyond the reality of space and time. He did this by constructing enigmatic narratives in a staged environment of uninhabited piazzas, towers and arcades, based on classical Italian architecture and memories from his childhood.

These nostalgic scenes were populated by alienated figures, departing trains (a metaphor for the loss of his father who was a railway engineer), isolated statues and mysterious assemblages that are part mannequin, part sculpture. His use of unsettling perspectives and long dramatic shadows added a dreamlike clarity that appealed to Surrealist sensibilities. GIORGIO DE CHIRICO (1888-1978) The Disquieting Muses, 1916 (Oil on canvas) 'The Disquieting Muses' illustrates most of these attributes. The Castello Estense, a medieval palace in Ferrara, sits at the end of its piazza whose cobblestones have been covered by the elevated boards of a stage set. To complete the setting, it is flanked by factories on the left and an empty arcade on the right. Melpomene and Thalia, two muses in the form of mannequins, occupy front stage. Melpomene (the muse of tragedy) turns her back to the viewer with her club discarded at her side while Thalia (the muse of comedy) takes a seat with her mask dropped at her feet.

They seem to have downed tools suggesting that their inspirational skills are redundant in this metaphysical world. They are overlooked by the statue of Apollo who normally accompanies them as their teacher, but now his powers are not only eclipsed by the shade but also petrified in stone. The box in the foreground of the painting is drawn in a reversed perspective to emphasize that the normal rules do not apply here. 'The Disquieting Muses' is also a dark poem by Sylvia Plath that reveals the disturbing impact of a reproduction of this work that hung in her bedroom as a child. Surrealist Artists RENÉ MAGRITTE (1898-1967) The Son of Man, 1964 (Oil on Canvas) Over the years there have been many Surrealist artists associated with the movement which continues to exert its influence on art to this day. However, those major figures who were responsible for creating what we now refer to as the golden age of Surrealism were Joan Miro , Max Ernst , Salvador Dali and René Magritte .

Joan Miro (1893-1983) JOAN MIRO(1893-1983) The Birth of the World, 1925 (Oil on Canvas) Joan Miro moved from Barcelona to Paris in 1919 where he was introduced to André Breton and the Surrealists by his next door neighbour, André Masson. Breton loved the naive and childlike vision of Miro's art and encouraged him to experiment with Surrealist techniques in order to stimulate his creativity and open his 'unconscious mind'. To this end Miro tried to enhance his imagination by inducing hallucinations through extreme hunger. In this susceptible condition he would sit for hours and stare at the stains and cracks on the plaster walls of his run down studio, sketching the primal forms that were generated by his altered state. This technique was probably inspired by a favourite Surrealist text on the interpretation of stains from the notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, "I say that a man may seek out in such a stain heads of men, various animals, battles, rocks, seas, clouds, woods and other similar things.

It is like the sound of bells which can mean whatever you want it to" [2] Miro's painting, 'The Birth of the World' perfectly illustrates this form of ' automatism '. He began the work by brushing and splashing the freely painted background, which in itself is an example of 'pure psychic automatism'. [3] However the foreground of the painting is more calculated with flatly painted lines and shapes that are drawn from a vocabulary of primal forms compiled in his sketchbooks. These forms, in relation to the title of the painting, both invite and resist literal analysis provoking an 'unconscious' poetic response as the enduring effect. As Miro said, "The painting rises from the brushstrokes as a poem rises from the words. The meaning comes later." Max Ernst (1891-1976) MAX ERNST (1891-1976) Une Semaine de Bonté, 1933 (engraving based on collage) Max Ernst explored a wider variety of Surrealist techniques than any other artist.

As Surrealism was originally formed as a literary movement, one of the problems for artists was to find Surrealist processes that were specific to the visual arts and not simply adaptations of literary techniques. Collage and photomontage had already been used to dramatic effect by Ernst when he was a member of the Cologne Dadaists . In the context of Surrealism it proved to be the perfect medium to awaken what Ernst called 'the most powerful poetic detonations'. [4] Consequently he produced a series of Surrealist collage novels including 'Répétitions' 1922, 'Les Malheurs des Immortels' 1922, 'La Femme 100 Têtes' (One Hundred Headless Women) 1929 and 'Une Semaine de Bonté' (A Week of Plenty) 1933, a page from which is illustrated above. The images in these novels were cut and pasted from an assortment of popular scientific and literary publications. Cuttings from the likes of Gustave Doré's illustrations of 'Paradise Lost' and Jules Mary's bourgeois melodrama 'Les Damnées de Paris' were combined in bizarre and irrational relationships.

Ernst's choice of sources, however, were not simply random. They represented the repressive Victorian/Edwardian era of his childhood and his collage books were a provocative assault on its authoritarian society. To enhance the subversive power of his imagery, Ernst had each collage recreated as a line engraving to make them look more like authentic illustrations of the time. As you turned the pages, the juxtaposition of images from different contexts stunned your normal cultural response and stirred the depths of your 'unconscious mind'. Ernst also developed the techniques of 'frottage', 'grattage' and 'decalcomania' to create 'automatic' textures. He would use these as an imaginative source of imagery by staring at them to discover the extraordinary surrealistic creatures and landscapes that lay hidden within. Frottage (from the French, 'frotter' meaning 'to rub') was the technique of taking a rubbing from a textured surface, like the childhood pastime of creating an image of a coin by covering it with a sheet of paper and rubbing with a pencil.

Grattage (from the French, 'gratter' meaning 'to scratch') was another 'automatic' technique that explored the after-effects of scraping wet paint from the surface of a canvas. MAX ERNST (1891-1976) Europe after the Rain II, 1941 (Decalcomania: Oil on Canvas) Decalcomania was one of Ernst's more dynamic techniques. This effect is clearly illustrated in his painting of 'Europe after the Rain II'. Its elaborate surface was created by pressing fluid paint between two sheets of canvas and peeling them apart to reveal a luxuriant texture. Ernst would then search this complicated mass for familiar shapes much in the same way that a psychologist would use the 'Rorschach inkblot test' to extract meaning from an 'automatic' response. Once he had unearthed some recognizable figures that formed a subliminal narrative, he would enhance their details manually. Finally he would edit the overall composition by painting out the negative shape of sky to liberate the 'unconscious' image that was hidden within its entangled form.

MAX ERNST (1891-1976) Detail of Europe after the Rain II, 1941 (Decalcomania: Oil on Canvas) 'Europe after the Rain II' is Max Ernst's scathing commentary on World War Two in Europe. It is an apocalyptic vision of the aftermath of war; a scorched world of rotting remains that are inhabited by the deformed shapes of man and beast. A woman with her back to us stares longingly at the distant horizon grieving for her lost world, her calcified body eternally anchored to this barbarous terrain. A sentry wearing a bird mask helmet and holding a spear stands guard beside her, an ironic symbol of the 'great European New Order' that Hitler proclaimed in a speech of January 1941 (the year of the painting) at the Berlin Sportpalast. Ernst experienced the devastation and futility of war having served on both the Western and Eastern fronts in World War One. In his autobiography he dealt succinctly with these harrowing events, 'On the first of August 1914, M E died. He was resurrected on the eleventh of November 1918'.

[5] 'Europe after the Rain II' is an 'unconscious' visualization of all wars: no idealistic outcome, no victor's spoils, no winners. All that remains is a ravaged world and a scarred humanity whose new guardian now wears a different mask. When interviewed about the relationship between dreams and reality in his work and the strangeness of the images he produced, Ernst replied "If painting is a mirror of a time, it must be mad to have a true image of what the time is. Who made world history? Not the most reasonable people, the madmen did......Through one madness we oppose another madness." [6] Salvador Dali (1904-1989) SALVADOR DALI (1904-1989) Swans Reflecting Elephants, 1937 (Oil on Canvas) Salvador Dali personifies Surrealism. He was fascinated by the writings of Freud and his interest in psychoanalysis informed his best work. He proudly proclaimed "There is only one difference between a madman and me.

I am not mad....There is more to the nightmarish world than people think." [7] Dali was enthralled by certain delusional aspects of paranoia: how a person sees evidence of one thing and irrationally interprets it as another. By entering a self induced paranoiac state he was able to contemplate one form and conceive it as another - a kind of illusionistic double-take. True to Surrealist form, Dali adopts a mental disorder and turns it into an mechanism for mining the 'unconscious mind'. He called this his 'paranoiac-critical' method and he used it repeatedly in his classic surrealist paintings of the 1930's. Dali's works of this period were also very accessible to the wider public due to the virtuosity of his painting technique. He was able to create very believable images whose lifelike description convinces us that this unconscious world of his dreams is real.

SALVADOR DALI (1904-1989) Metamorphosis of Narcissus, 1937 (Oil on Canvas) The 'Metamorphosis of Narcissus' was the first painting that Dali based on his 'paranoiac-critical' method. It was inspired by the various myths of Narcissus which explore an abnormal preoccupation with the self, something that Dali was no stranger to. In Greek mythology the young Narcissus was renowned for his handsome looks but he was also infatuated by his own appearance. One day he met the beautiful nymph Echo while hunting in the woods. Echo, who was a bit of a chatterbox, had fallen in love with Narcissus but as the result of a curse, she was only able to repeat those words that had previously been spoken to her by another. So when Narcissus spoke to her she could only repeat what he said. In a confused and frustrated state he spurned her advances and ran away. Echo, heartbroken by his rejection, retreated to the wilderness where she pined away until only her voice remained.

In the meantime Narcissus continued to reject suitor after suitor until Nemesis, the goddess of vengeance decided to punish him for his egotism. She lured him to an enchanted pool to quench his thirst and as he knelt down to drink, he fell in love with his own reflection in the water. He became so spellbound by the allure of his own image that he was unable to move. Transfixed and brokenhearted, just like the lovesick Echo, he gradually wasted away to nothing and died. At the place where he knelt a flower grew which was named after him. Dali's tells his story of Narcissus in two forms, one an echo of the other. The form on the left is the figure of Narcissus as he bends to look at his reflection in the pool. His body is turning to stone which both illustrates his inability to move and indicates his eventual death. The form on the right is his dead, petrified body which has transformed into a hand holding an egg. A narcissus grows from a crack in the egg to complete his metamorphosis. Dali crafts the rest of the painting around this 'paranoiac critical' vision.

The composition of the painting is cut in half by the vertical edge of the cliff face on the left. This draws a dividing line between the two forms of Narcissus and the symbolic balance of their color. The warm colors of the Cap de Creus rocks are used on the left, in and around the dying Narcissus, to suggest that there is yet life in his ailing body. (The Cap de Creus is a headland near Figueres, Dali's birthplace, and its typical rock formations appear in many of his works.) The colors on the right have turned ice cold to convey the idea that Narcissus has passed on. His metamorphosed form stands like a tombstone overrun by ants, his spirit encapsulated by the surviving flower. Ants, which also appear in several other paintings by Dali, are used as symbols of transformation as they constantly collect and consume dead matter to recycle its energy. In the center of the painting, a winding road links both images of Narcissus as it heads off into the distant mountains. Where it passes between the two forms, a group of Narcissus' rejected suitors weep in grief for their loss.

A sense of loss is further developed in the figure on the right who stands on a plinth in the center of a checkerboard. This represents Narcissus as he formerly was, glancing round to admire his own physique. The dramatic lighting, intense color, distant perspective and theatrical arrangement of the composition all nod a debt of acknowledgement in the direction of De Chirico, but what lifts Dali's 'hand painted dream photographs' [8] to a higher order in the Surrealist hierarchy is the ability of his painting technique 'to materialize the images of my concrete irrationality with the most imperialist fury of precision'. [9] René Magritte (1898-1967) RENÉ MAGRITTE (1898-1967) The Human Condition, 1933 (Oil on Canvas) René Magritte's paintings explore the 'unconscious' gaps between the communication and interpretation of the words and images that we use to describe reality. He paints commonplace images that set a trap for our rational faculties with their visual and verbal tripwires. The interplay between the titles and the content of his paintings adds another level of disorientation to these philosophical conundrums.

'The Human Condition' (1933) portrays a canvas on an easel in front of a window. The image on the canvas is a landscape painting which exactly registers with the view through the window. This immediately makes us pause and think, 'How do we know that the landscape behind the painting is what we see on the canvas? Is the image on the canvas revealing or concealing a view of reality?' The answer is that we simply don't know because we cannot move the painting to find out. Therefore, the reality of what exists is either accepted as an act of faith or becomes a construct of the mind, both philosophical perspectives of the human condition. RENÉ MAGRITTE (1898-1967) La Clef des Songes (The Key to Dreams), 1927 (Oil on Canvas) 'La Clef des Songes' is a similar enigma located in the gap between the meaning of words and images. The painting looks like a child's picture dictionary and is painted in that bland functional manner.

It depicts four objects - a bag, a penknife, a leaf and a sponge, each with an identification label below - Le ciel (The sky), L'oiseau (The bird), La table (The table) and L'éponge (The sponge). This simple image-labelling format is one that we have all learned to recognise and trust since childhood. However, here it does not work in three out of the four examples. The strange thing is that we do not automatically accept that the labelling system is wrong. As one of them is correct we start to search for a new system that works, exploring new possibilities for shape, color and form to try to restore a rational sense of order. It is at this point that Magritte has us where he wants us: absorbed in Surrealist activity by stimulating the creative potential of our unconscious mind through engaging with the impossible. Surrealist Painting Techniques YVES TANGUY (1900-1955) Deux Fois du Noir, 1941 (Oil on Canvas) There is long list of Surrealist techniques that were devised to tap into the 'unconscious mind' and most of the artists explored a range of these in their work.

However, the essence of Surrealist art can be summarized in three basic techniques: Automatism The Juxtaposition of Unrelated Images ANDRÉ MASSON (1896-1987) Automatic Drawing, 1924 (Pen on Paper) Automatism is based on a technique of Sigmund Freud called 'free association'. He wrote that, 'The importance of free association is that the patients spoke for themselves, rather than repeating the ideas of the analyst; they work through their own material, rather than parroting another's suggestions''. [10] Breton adapted this therapy as a creative device, renaming it 'pure psychic automatism'. [11] In this technique the artist would empty their mind of conscious thought and then start to draw spontaneously, recording any response that filled the vacuum. The result would be an expression of the 'unconscious mind' revealing the hidden depths of the psyche. Usually the results of this technique were not seen as the finished product but as a foundation on which a more considered image could be crafted, thereby achieving the 'resolution of these two states, dream and reality'. [12] This process came to be known simply as 'Automatism' and was a key element of Surrealist technique.

JOAN MIRO (1893-1983) Constellation: The Morning Star, 1940 (Gouache and Turpentine Paint on Paper) Automatism was the first Surrealist technique to be developed and the artworks created through this method are mostly abstract in form but often link to reality through their titles. Automatism was pioneered by André Masson, creatively developed by Max Ernst and elegantly refined in the art of Yves Tanguy and Joan Miro. SALVADOR DALI (1904-1989) Slave Market with the Disappearing Bust of Voltaire, 1940 (Oil on Canvas) As a student of psychiatry, Breton was fascinated by Sigmund Freud's study on 'The Interpretation of Dreams'. In his book of 1899 Freud stated that our deepest memories and instincts were hidden in the 'unconscious mind' and that one method of unlocking these was through the analysis of our dreams. Freud's ideas on the psychology of dreams, albeit adapted to suit Breton's own needs, were to become central to the development of Surrealism.

RENÉ MAGRITTE (1898-1967) The Return, 1940 (Oil on Canvas) The master of the hallucinatory dreamscape was Salvador Dali. His illusionistic realism was designed to subvert your senses and open your mind to the irrational. René Magritte also undermined the meaning of the commonplace image with an illogical visual or verbal twist that sabotaged any rational understanding of its context. The Juxtaposition of Unrelated Images MAX ERNST (1891-1976) The Elephant Celebes, 1921 (Oil on canvas) Juxtaposing unrelated images to generate a subconscious response was a device that Max Ernst had previously explored in his Dadaist paintings and collages.

However Breton attributes the idea to the French poet Pierre Reverdy who wrote, 'The more the relationship between the two juxtaposed realities is distant and true, the stronger the image will be -- the greater its emotional power and poetic reality.' [13] RENÉ MAGRITTE (1898-1967) Personal Values, 1952 (Oil on Canvas) This technique was comprehensively explored in the art of Max Ernst and imaginatively reinvented time and again in the poetic visions of René Magritte. A Definition of Surrealism Cover of La Révolution Surréaliste (December 1926) André Breton was a French writer and poet who wrote the first and second Surrealist Manifestos (1924 and 1929), Surrealism and Painting (1928) and was editor of the magazine La Révolution Surréaliste (twelve issues between 1924-29). André Breton (1896-1966) Surrealism was first defined by André Breton in the Surrealist Manifesto of 1924.

He presented this definition in a format that we associate with entries in a dictionary and encyclopedia: 'Surrealism, noun. masc., Pure psychic automatism, by which it is intended to express either verbally or in writing, the true function of thought. Thought dictated in the absence of all control exerted by reason and outside all aesthetic or moral preoccupations. Encycl. Philos. Surrealism is based on the belief in the superior reality of certain forms of associations previously neglected, in the omnipotence of the dream, and in the disinterested play of thought. It leads to the permanent destruction of all other psychic mechanisms and to its substitution for them in the solution of the principal problems of life.' [14] In the same manifesto, Breton outlined his main aim as 'the future resolution of these two states, dream and reality, which are seemingly so contradictory, into a kind of absolute reality, a surreality, if one may so speak.' [15] He believed that this new state would transform creative thought and liberate society to live on a higher plane of 'super-reality'.

Surrealism Facts Salvador Dali surrealism and art style | The Dalí Universe © Fundación Gala Salvador Dalí Modern Art: Surrealism List some famous modern artists, Paul Eluard, Joan Miro, Rene Magritte, Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst, what do they all have in common? All of them are Surrealist artists. Breton died in Paris in 1966 and with him the surrealist movement which he had founded in the 1920s. Surrealism, is the name given to the cultural movement in visual arts and literature, that flourished in Europe between World Wars I and II. The movement represented a reaction against what its members saw as the destruction wrought by rationalism which had shaped history, art and politics; it was characterized by unexpected juxtapositions in ordinary scenes that challenge the viewer’s imagination. Think of Magritte’s Son of Man where an apple is suspended in front of the man’s face, apparently a self -portrait of the artist imbued with meaning, and Dalí’s Woman Aflame with her front full of open drawers.

According to the major spokesman of the movement, the poet and critic André Breton, who published The Surrealist Manifesto in 1924, Surrealism was a means of reuniting conscious and unconscious realms of experience so completely, that the world of dream and fantasy would be joined to the everyday rational world in “an absolute reality, a surreality.” Dalí and Surrealism Drawing heavily on theories adapted from Sigmund Freud, Breton saw the unconscious as the wellspring of the imagination. Dalí’s painting, The Persistence of Memory is a striking example of a surrealist artwork: the ants and melting clocks are familiar objects placed in a strange and odd setting. Dalí wants to twist our usual ideas about what is ‘normal’ and ‘accepted.’ Dalí was interested in Freud’s writings on psychology. Freud was an Austrian psychologist (b.1856, d.1939) who wrote about the theory of subconscious.

According to Freud, dreams are coded messages from the subconscious and Surrealists, like Dalí, were interested in what could be revealed by their dreams SURREALISM.ORG - surrealism, surreal art, max ernst, salvador dali, rene magritte (1898-1967) - Having a great influence on pop culture, minimalist and conceptual art, Ren� Fran�ois Magritte was born to humble beginnings, the eldest son of a tailor father and milliner mother. When he was just 14 years old, his mother committed suicide by throwing herself into the River Sambre near their Belgium home. Magritte witnessed rescuers pulling his mother from the river, the fabric of her dress covering her face. It is said that the vision haunted him, and was the inspiration behind a series of works he painted in the late 1920�s, including his famous Les Amants. Magritte�s first surreal painting, The Lost Jockey, was painted in 1926 and featured at his first exhibition in Brussels in 1927. The exhibition was a critical failure, and the depressed Magritte moved with his wife Georgette Berger to Paris.

It was there that he met Andr� Breton and began his association with the surrealist community. Magritte eventually returned to Brussels, and having been a poster and advertisement designer in the early 1920�s, he formed an advertising agency with his brother. He remained in Brussels during the German occupation of Belgium during World War II, and this caused a falling out with Breton and some of the other surrealists, although Magritte continued to paint. Magritte is best known for his juxtaposition of ordinary objects in unusual context and for giving familiar objects new translations. He also enjoyed painting objects, only to point out that the objects he painted were not actually the object. For example, both in his painting The Treachery of Images, a painting of a pipe; and another painting depicting an apple, Magritte indicates that the paintings are not the object he has painted. He wanted the observer of his work to realize that no matter how closely he captured the image of an apple, a pipe, or any other object, the painting could not actually BE that object. Magritte�s popularity grew, especially in the pop culture arena throughout the 1960�s.

His work was shown multiple times in New York City, including a large retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1965. Ren� Magritte died from pancreatic cancer on August 15, 1967. He is buried Schaarbeek Cemetery in his home of Brussels, Belgium. � 2009 Surrealism.org Surrealism | Art Dictionary | Hatje Cantz Art Dictionary Claude Cahun, "Auto-Portrait (Self-Portrait)", c. 1928, detail Books related to this subject Erró Press Feed René Magritte and Salvador Dalí are probably the most famous of the Surrealist painters; in this movement the subconscious, the paradoxical, and the dreamlike played significant roles. "I believe in the future resolution of these two states, dream and reality, which are seemingly seemingly so contradictory, into a kind of absolute reality, a surreality." (André Breton, First Manifesto of Surrealism, 1924) The founders of Surrealism thought of themselves primarily as advocates of a new, revolutionary view of the world rather than representatives of a new current in art.

In the First Manifesto of Surrealism (1924), André Breton defined Surrealism as "psychic automatism" in which the free play of thoughts must liberated from control by reason. He believed that kiberation of the metaphorical capacities of the mind and an intensive study of forms of free association would lead to recognition of a higher reality. In this context, the Surrealists emphasized the importance of dreams, fantasies and suppressed emotions. The influence of Sigmund Freud's scientific findings is clearly evident here. The Surrealists were very interested in medicine and the newly emerging science of psychoanalysis. Literature was initially the most important medium of the Surrealist movement, which began to take shape around 1920. The journal La Révolution Surréaliste was in circulation between 1924 and 1929. The young writers in Breton's circle were soon joined by a number of visual artists from Dadaist groups. The two movements shared a proclivity for provocative utterances and an attitude of radical rejection of existing standards of art. Visual art soon became the primary form of expression for Surrealism.

From the 1920s to the 1940s, artists such as Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst and René Magritte produced numerous pictures reminiscent of dream sequences. In these works, familiar objects appear in alienated form or in unusual combinations as references to the existence of worlds beyond the sphere of visible reality. The self-taught artist Max Ernst (1891-1976) preferred techniques which relied on the power of coincidence. He invented frottage (a technique of transferring relief patters, such as wood grain, to paper by rubbing) and even let paint drip onto the canvas or paper ground (like the Action Painters of later years) as a way of emancipating the process of artistic creation from aesthetic control. Salvador Dalí (1904-1989) was a firm believer in the creative power of neurosis. Inspired by Freud's Interpretation of Dreams, he regarded the induction of paranoid states as an artistic method. Dalí's deliberate cultivation of his image as an eccentric and the disturbing motifs in his paintings stand in sharp contrast to his painstaking technique.

Equally ghostly and unsettling are the dream worlds created by Richard Oelze (1900-1980), the most significant German Surrealist. His landscapes are populated by teeming plant life and demonic beings. The scenes in the paintings of René Magritte (1898-1967) seem almost poetic and light-hearted in contrast. Upon closer examination, the combination of more or less mundane motifs grows increasingly mysterious. With his complex systems of signs and symbols, Magritte sought to encourage viewers to reflect upon the limitations imposed upon human perception. The unconventional style of Joan Miró (1893-1983) represents a current of Surrealistic painting dedicated to realizing the direct transfer of subconscious images to the canvas through spontaneous artistic expression. This spontaneity is articulated in Miró's brightly colored compositions consisting of pictograms resembling hieroglyphics and calligraphic elements. The desert-like panoramic landscapes of Yves Tanguy (1900-1955), in which bizarre structures cast their shadows, appear much more precisely calculated in comparison. Surrealism exerted a significant influence on 20th-century painting style.

Surrealist films (Luis Buñuel, Jean Cocteau) and Surrealist photography (Man Ray, Dalí, Halsman) had a substantial impact on the stylistic developments in these media and even affected advertising art, which often made use of surreal elements. Aspects of Surrealism have also assumed renewed importance in contemporary art. Many artists seek to penetrate into yet another unfamiliar level of reality - the world of virtual reality. Digital image processing offers almost limitless possibilities for altering familiar motifs or incorporating them into surreal collages. Yet such calculated applications of the aesthetic resources of historical Surrealism tend to diminish its expressive power. In view of its inflationary use in the commercial spheres of computer gaming and the Internet, artists have shown relatively little interest in this technology. What we observe instead are experiments with habitual patterns of human visual behavior involving visual irritation. The technical process of image creation is obscured or appears diversely fragmented. The young British painter Glenn Brown, for example, copies well-known works by such artists as Dalí, van Gogh or Rembrandt, smoothing their surfaces completely but also making recognizable alterations in the originals.

Viewers are perplexed at the sight of pictures that look like photographs but clearly neither display the familiar painting nor - because they are devoid of structure - reveal the hand of a different artist. Other artists allude to surreal aspects of everyday life by presenting them with extreme realism or in oversized form in museum settings. This applies to the lifelike sculptures of Duane Hanson and the provocative art of Jeff Koons, to name only two examples. Contemporary artists do not share the Surrealists' interest in exploration of the human psyche. Instead, much recent art is concerned with the question of how images disseminated in the mass media influence the collective consciousness and our ideas about reality. Photo artist Cindy Sherman uses such images stored in the collective memory in Untitled Film Stills, her best-known work. These photographs, which remind viewers of scenes from classic films, turn out upon closer examination to be images of the artist herself, who takes on a different role in every scene. Surreality and the stylistic tools of historical Surrealism have become part of the standard repertoire of forms of expression in contemporary art. This was illustrated in an exhibition featuring works from the past fifty years presented at the Kunsthaus Zürich and the Hamburger Kunsthalle.

The title "Hypermental" alludes to historical Surrealism but also calls attention to the innovative character of Surrealist elements in contemporary art. The show included works by Matthew Barney, Marcel Duchamp, Glenn Brown, Duane Hanson, Jeff Koons, Sarah Lucas, Cindy Sherman, Jeff Wall, Tom Wesselman and others. Andrea Gern Surrealism Telegram Influences: Sigmund Freud's studies in psychoanalysis, Dadaism, Pittura metafisica Time frame: Surrealism emerged in the early 1920s, initially as a literary movement, later expanding into visual arts, film and the theater; reached its zenith in the mid-1930s. The term: The word (French for "super-realism") can be traced to G. Apollinaire's play Les Mamelles des Tirésias (1917), which the author referred to as a "surrealistic drama." Most prominent representatives: Max Ernst, Salvador Dalí, René Magritte Formal characteristics: no uniform stylistic features, although all Surrealist artists regarded psychic processes - such as dreams, visions and spontaneous associations - as the point of departure for their artistic productions.

Surrealism surrealism, dali, art posters, salvador dali Surrealism is a cultural movement and artistic style that was founded in 1924 by Andr� Breton. Surrealism style uses visual imagery from the subconscious mind to create art without the intention of logical comprehensibility. The movement was begun primarily in Europe, centered in Paris, and attracted many of the members of the Dada community. Influenced by the psychoanalytical work of Freud and Jung, there are similarities between the Surrealist movement and the Symbolist movement of the late 19th century. Some of the greatest artists of the 20th century became involved in the Surrealist movement, and the group included Giorgio de Chirico, Man Ray, Ren� Magritte, and many others. The Surrealist movement eventually spread across the globe, and has influenced artistic endeavors from painting and sculpture to pop music and film directing. The greatest known Surrealist artist is the world famous Salvador Dali. Surrealism | Tate Surrealism What are the key points?

René Magritte The Future of Statues 1937 © ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2002 French poet André Breton launched this movement in Paris in 1924 It became an international movement including British surrealism which formed in 1936 They were strongly influenced by Sigmund Freud (the founder of psychoanalysis) and his theories about the unconscious The aim of surrealism was to reveal the unconscious and reconcile it with rational life Key artists involved in the movement were Salvador Dalí , Max Ernst , René Magritte and Joan Miró Two broad types of surrealism can be seen: the oneiric (dream-like imagery) and automatism (a process of making which unleashed the unconscious by drawing or writing without conscious thought) Some (such as Max Ernst) used new techniques such as frottage and collage to create unusual imagery Watch former art student and Doctor Who actor Peter Capaldi explain surrealism in five minutes: Or browse the selection of works in the slideshow below 1 of 13 support: 1160 x 810 x 20 mm frame:1380 x 1027 x 100 mm Purchased 1

969© ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2002 support: 511 x 781 mm frame: 820 x 1092 x 85 mm Purchased 1979© Salvador Dali, Gala-Salvador Dali Foundation/DACS, London 2002 support: 1254 x 1079 mm frame: 1397 x 1210 x 102 mm Purchased 1975© ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2002 I Extend My Arms 1931 or 1932 Black and white photograph on paper 210 x 156 mm Flight of the Magnolia 1944 Oil on canvas support: 511 x 762 x 22 mm frame: 687 x 942 x 85 mm Purchased with assistance from the Friends of the Tate Gallery, the Art Fund and a group of donors 1999© Tate Indestructible Object 1923, remade 1933, editioned

 replica 1965 Wooden metronome and photograph unconfirmed: 215 x 110 x 115 mm Presented by the Friends of the Tate Gallery 2000© Man Ray Trust/ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2002 Some Roses and Their Phantoms 1952 Oil on canvas support: 763 x 1015 x 23 mm frame: 973 x 1225 x 82 mm Presented by the Tate Collectors Forum 2003© DACS, 2002 support: 1464 x 1149 mm frame: 1630 x 1320 x 80 mm Purchased 1951© DACS, 2002 Sculpture to be Lost in the Forest 1932, cast circa 1953-8 Bronze object: 90 x 222 x 154 mm object: 60 x 120 x 100 mm object: 65 x 55 x 93 mm Accepted by H.M.

Government in lieu of tax and allocated to the Tate Gallery 1986© DACS, 2002 support: 1727 x 1991 mm frame: 1770 x 2032 x 55 mm Presented by Baron Urvater 1957© Foundation P Delvaux - St Idesbald, Belgium/DACS, London 2002 Tempera on linen laid on wood support: 711 x 1016 mm Purchased 1938© Tate Do You Know My Aunt Eliza? 1941 Pen and ink on off-white wove paper support: 270 x 207 mm Purchased 2004© The estate of the artist, DACS, 2006 Who are the main artists? Salvador Dalì (b. 1904 – d. 1989) Dalì was a Spanish surrealist who painted dream-like scenes in a realistic style. He often repeated symbols in his work including melting clocks (passing of time), ants (death, decay) and eggs (hope, rebirth).

He didn’t just paint, he also worked in film, sculpture and photography. Salvador Dalí View the main page for this artwork Famous works Lobster Telephone 1936 (a surrealist object which symbolises sex. Surrealists liked to remove objects from its expected context and create new meanings) Un Chien Andalou 1929 (a film made with fellow surrealist Luis Buñuel that features the infamous image of an eye being cut by a razor) Metamorphosis of Narcissus 1937 (a double image painting showing Dalì’s interest in illusions) See Dalí’s work come to life in this film about Dalí’s collaboration with Disney. Joan Miró (b. 1893 – d. 1983) Joan Miró was a Spanish painter, who created imagery using automatic techniques. His style was child-like, simplifying familar things (such as animals, stars, body parts) into geometric shapes and abstract biomorphic forms. He used a limited colour palette which usually consisted of bold, primary colours.

Joan Miró A Star Caresses the Breast of a Negress (Painting Poem) 1938 © Succession Miro/ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2002 View the main page for this artwork Famous works A Star Caresses the Breast of a Negress (Painting Poem) 1938 (a painting which uses a visual language to represent people and objects) Painting 1927 (Miro’s use of deep blue was deeply connected to the theme of dreams) Message from a Friend 1964 (this work shows how his imagery was often unclear) Watch two of the curators of the 2011 Tate Modern exhibition Miró , Matthew Gale and Marko Daniel, select three of Miró’s artworks to explore up close. Paul Nash (b.1889 – d.1946) Paul Nash was a British surrealist and war artist who was most well-known for his landscape paintings. From 1928, he became particularly influenced by the work of Giorgio de Chirico because of his use of unexpected objects within mysterious landscapes.

Paul Nash Landscape from a Dream 1936–8 © Tate View the main page for this artwork Famous works Landscape from a Dream 1936–8 (a symbolic painting set firmly within the setting of a British landscape) Totes Meer (Dead Sea) 1940–1 (this war-torn surrealist work was a response to seeing a wrecked aircraft at Cowley in Oxfordshire) Flight of the Magnolia 1944 (one of his late works which is very dream-like, depicting a magnolia blossom in flight) In this short film, journalist Simon Grant explores the hidden emotion and love story behind Totes Meer. Paul Nash 26 October 2016 – 5 March 2017 This Tate Modern exhibition presents his major works from his early symbolist manner, through to the iconic works of the First World War, as well as his landscapes of the interwar period. How did surrealism progress? Around the globe Political upheveal from World War Two spread surrealists around the globe (notably in Belgium, Britain and the former Czechoslavakia). They widely influencing art, literature and the cinema as well as social attitudes and behaviour.

The British Surrealist group formed in 1936 with artist Paul Nash and critic Herbet Read among its founding members. Soon after forming, they organised the First International Surrealist Exhibition in London which attracted huge public attention. Other British Surrealist artists in the group included Eileen Agar , John Armstrong , John Banting , Ithell Colquhoun , Conroy Maddox , E.L.T. Mesens , Julian Trevelyan . In 1947 the British group merged with the French one. Watch a short film about Leonora Carrington , a British artist who became central in the surrealist circles of France and New York. Featuring rare archive footage, this film follows Carrington’s cousin and journalist, Joanna Moorhead, exploring the artist’s story. Artist Wifredo Lam was closely associated with Pablo Picasso and members of the surrealist movement like André Breton . His work poetically addresses themes of social injustice, nature and spirituality. Watch this short film in which the artist’s son recounts his father’s story and shares his memories. Some surrealists migrated to America during World War Two.

By the 1940s, the surrealist idea of revealing the unconscious greatly influenced a new movement, the abstract expressionists . They achieved the unconscious through abstraction using new techniques (rooted in automatism) rather than dream-like imagery. In popular culture Despite not directly referencing popular culture, surrealism has had a great amount of influence on literature, design and cinema. The interviews, films and articles below explore its impact. In this short film, album graphic designer Storm Thorgerson discusses his love of Rene Magritte and the artist’s influence on his work. I think I took away from Magritte a love of oddity or oddness. Storm Thorgerson

Question: What art movement was represented by Salvador Dalí and René Magritte?
Answer: Surrealism