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Surrealism Surrealism is a movement stating that the liberation of our mind, and subsequently the liberation of the individual self and society, can be achieved by exercising the imaginative faculties of the "unconscious mind" to the attainment of a dream-like state different from, or ultimately ‘truer’ than, everyday reality. Surrealists believe that this more truthful reality can bring about personal, cultural, and social revolution, and a life of freedom, poetry, and uninhibited sexuality. André Breton said that such a revealed truth would be beatific, or in his own words, "beauty will be convulsive or not at all." In more mundane terms, the word "surreal" is often used colloquially to describe unexpected juxtapositions or use of non-sequiturs in art or dialogue. When the concept of surrealism has been "applied" by associated groups of individuals, it has often been called a "surrealist movement," whether cultural (including artistic) or social. Surrealism in the arts In general usage, the term Surrealism is more often considered a movement in visual arts than the original cultural and philosophical movement. As with some other movements that had both philosophical and artistic dimensions, such as romanticism and the relationship between the two usages is complex and a matter of some debate outside the movement. Many Surrealist artists regarded their work as an expression of the philosophical movement first and foremost, and Breton was explicit in his belief that Surrealism was above all a revolutionary movement.
Early visual arts SurrealismSince many of the initial participants in Surrealism originated in the Dada movement, a strict demarcation of Surrealist and Dadaist theory and practice can be difficult to draw, although André Breton's statements on the matter leave no doubt of his own clarity on that boundary. Outside the "inner circle" (i.e. in the Academy), this imaginary line is sketched differently by different scholars. The roots of Surrealism in the visual arts run to both Dada and Cubism, as well as the abstraction of Wassily Kandinsky and Expressionism, as well as Post-Impressionism, and also partake of older "bloodlines" such as Hieronymus Bosch, and so-called "primitive" and "naive" arts. This only makes sense if one considers Surrealism to be a matter of art, when both Dadaists and Surrealists themselves rejected the notion without hesitation. Dada - especially - declared loudly and often that it was out to destroy art, and Surrealism - although less brutish in its campaign against art-in-itself, made clear its resistance to any idea that it was - in fact - an "art movement" at all. Technique was beside the point, mere ornament or simple retinal stimulation was anathema, as the Surrealists claimed visual arts as a subsidiary of Poetry, and hoped to inflame human desires directly via their images. The fact that the first Surrealists were not visual artists but poets speaks volumes about the poetic and philosophical basis of Surrealism. Surrealism Artists: Jean Arp
Victor Brauner
Salvador Dali
Giorgio DeChirrico
Paul Delvaux
Marcel Duchamp
Max Ernst
Alberto Giacometti
Rene Magritte
Ray Man
Joan Miro
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