From MoMA Learning
(Museum of Modern Art, New York)
Surrealism was an artistic, intellectual, and literary movement led by the poet André Breton from 1924 until World War II. The Surrealists sought to overthrow the oppressive rules of modern society, destroying the backbone of rational thought. To do this, they attempted to address the “superior reality” of the unconscious mind. “Completely against the tide,” Breton said, “in a violent reaction against the impoverishment and sterility of thought processes resulting from centuries of rationalism, we turned to the marvelous and advocated it unconditionally.”
Many of the principles of surrealism, including an emphasis on automation, experimental use of language, and found objects, were present to some extent in the Dada movement that preceded surrealism. However, the surrealists systematized these strategies within the framework of psychologist Sigmund Freud's theories on dreams and the unconscious mind. In the 1924 Surrealist Manifesto, Breton defined surrealism as:
“Psychic automation in its purest state, through which man attempts to express... the actual functioning of thought... in the absence of any control exercised by reason, except for any aesthetic or moral concern.”
Dada & Surrealism
Although Dada was decentralized in terms of geography and leadership, the center of Surrealism was Paris, with Breton at the helm. Although Dada was in many ways an anarchic movement, the Surrealists are known for engaging in collective group action.
The surrealist circle was relatively cohesive, but the individuals within it came from a variety of nationalities, and their artistic approaches were equally diverse. They believed that automatic drawings released the contents of the unconscious mind, while hyper-realistic landscape paintings evoked the mysterious imagery of dreams. The mismatched combinations of found objects, combined in surrealist collages, hinted at the sexual tensions and psychological forces that they believed were hidden just beneath the surface of reality.
Source: https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/themes/surrealism/
Photo Credits: Bettmann / Contributor
Source: Bettmann
