Surrealism

Surrealism is a 20th century avant-garde art movement that explored the unconscious mind, dreams, and the concept of irrationality. It often used techniques such as juxtaposition, hyperrealism, metamorphosis, dream imagery, and distortion to create illogical and dreamlike artworks.

The movement was influenced by Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis of the unconscious mind and dreams, Dadaism’s rejection of logic, Karl Marx’s revolutionary ideals, and the mysterious imagery of symbolist and metaphysical art. It also drew from mysticism, mythology, and Indigenous art to explore subconscious truths.

The term “surrealism” was first coined by Guillaume Apollinare in 1917 and the movement was led by André Breton, a French writer and poet, author of “The Surrealist Manifesto”.

Notable surrealist artists include Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst, René Magritte, Frida Kahlo, Dorothea Tanning, and Yves Tanguy.