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Surrealistic means of or relating to surrealism, a movement in art and literature that creates strange and dreamlike effects. Learn more about the word history, examples, and related terms of surrealistic.
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- Characteristics
- Surrealist artists
Surrealism was a movement in visual art 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 the “rationalism” that had guided European culture and politics previously and that had culminated in the horrors of World War I. Drawing heavily on theories adapted from Sigmund Freud, Surrealists endeavoured to bypass social conventions and education to explore the subconscious through a number of techniques, including automatic drawing, a spontaneous uncensored recording of chaotic images that “erupt” into the consciousness of the artist; and exquisite corpse, whereby an artist draws a part of the human body (a head, for example), folds the paper, and passes it to the next artist, who adds the next part (a torso, perhaps), and so on, until a collective composition is complete.
Sigmund Freud
Read about Sigmund Freud, the neurologist whose theories informed the Surrealist movement.
What are the characteristics of Surrealism?
Surrealism has no unified style, but, in painting, one can distinguish a range of possibilities falling between two extremes. At one pole, the viewer is confronted by a world that is completely defined and minutely depicted but that makes no rational sense: realistically painted images are removed from their normal contexts and reassembled within an ambiguous, paradoxical, or shocking framework. It is exemplified in the works of such artists as René Magritte and Salvador Dalí. At the other pole, variously called organic, emblematic, or absolute Surrealism, the viewer is confronted with abstract images, usually biomorphic, that are suggestive but indefinite. This approach is exemplified by artists such as Jean Arp, Max Ernst, and Joan Miró.
Salvador Dalí
In the poetry of Breton, Paul Éluard, Pierre Reverdy, and others, Surrealism manifested itself in a juxtaposition of words that was startling because it was determined not by logical but by psychological—that is, unconscious—thought processes. Surrealism’s major achievements, however, were in the field of painting. Surrealist painting was influence...
With its emphasis on content and free form, Surrealism provided a major alternative to the contemporary, highly formalistic Cubist movement and was largely responsible for perpetuating in modern painting the traditional emphasis on content. The work of major Surrealist painters is too diverse to be summarized categorically. Each artist sought his or her own means of self-exploration. Some single-mindedly pursued a spontaneous revelation of the unconscious, freed from the controls of the conscious mind, while others, notably the Catalan painter Joan Miró (though he never officially joined the group), used Surrealism as a liberating starting point for an exploration of personal fantasies, conscious or unconscious, often through formal means of great beauty.
A range of possibilities falling between the two extremes can be distinguished. At one pole, exemplified at its purest by the works of the French artist Jean Arp, the viewer is confronted with images, usually biomorphic, that are suggestive but indefinite. As the viewer’s mind works with the provocative image, unconscious associations are liberated, and the creative imagination asserts itself in a totally open-ended investigative process. To a greater or lesser extent, the German artist Max Ernst, French painter André Masson, and Miró also followed this approach, variously called organic, emblematic, or absolute Surrealism.
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At the other pole the viewer is confronted by a world that is completely defined and minutely depicted but that makes no rational sense: fully recognizable, realistically painted images are removed from their normal contexts and reassembled within an ambiguous, paradoxical, or shocking framework. The work aims to provoke a sympathetic response, forcing the viewer to acknowledge the inherent “sense” of the irrational and logically inexplicable. The most direct form of this approach was taken by Belgian artist René Magritte in simple but powerful paintings such as that portraying a normal table setting that includes a plate holding a slice of ham, from the centre of which stares a human eye. Spanish artist Salvador Dalí, French painter Pierre Roy, and Belgian artist Paul Delvaux rendered similar but more complex alien worlds that resemble compelling dreamlike scenes.
French-born American painter Yves Tanguy’s style was somewhere between the two poles. He often painted with painstaking detail ambiguous forms, which resemble marine invertebrates or sculpturesque rock formations, and set them in barren, brightly lit landscapes that have an infinite horizon.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Surrealism is an art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike scenes and ideas. [1] .
Surrealism is a movement in art, literature, film, or theater that creates fantastic or incongruous imagery or effects by unnatural or irrational juxtapositions and combinations. Learn the etymology, history, and examples of surrealism from Merriam-Webster dictionary.
Sep 23, 2016 · Surrealism was a movement that aimed to liberate the unconscious mind from rationalism and create art that reflected the irrational and dreamlike. Learn about its origins, methods, icons, and legacy in this article.
Definition — Surrealism is an art and cultural movement that emerged in Europe in the 1920s, aiming to express the unconscious mind through illogical and dreamlike scenes. Origins — Developed in the aftermath of World War I, influenced by Dada, and officially established in 1924 with the publication of the Surrealist Manifesto by André Breton.
Sep 13, 2017 · Surrealism is an artistic movement that creates imagery that is impossible in reality, inspired by Sigmund Freud’s theories of dreams and the unconscious. Learn about the origins, experiments, painters, sculptors, photographers and women of Surrealism.
