Art Project: SurrealismBy Kenneth Morrissey

Background•Began in the City of Paris, France•Officially started in the year 1924 when Andre Breton wrote Le Manifeste du Surréalisme and with the quote "Psychic automatism in its pure state, by which one proposes to express - verbally, by means of the written word, or in any other manner - the actual functioning of thought.“ defining Surrealism

•Although the term was coined in 1917 by the French poet Guillaume Apollinaire •Lasted until late 1966•Was one of the longest modern art movements

Historical Events and Goals•Heavily influenced by Sigmund Freud and his ideas of the subconscious mind, which were becoming popular at the time

•Also influenced by Karl Marx: with the goal of revealing problems with the world which would lead to a revolution

•Evolved from Dada when their movement began to decline in the 1924, keeping the theme of absurdity

•Was almost an escape cerebrally for those who survived WW1•Also had the goal of using the power of dreams and chance with unusual juxtapositions

•In the time before WW2 it also showed a foreboding in the 1930s

Characteristics •Automatism- having ones pencil of paintbrush move across the canvas freely believing the conscious messages would emerge

•Using old academic techniques to make images appear if they are glimpsed

• Interest in the power of imagination, similar to Romanticism but they had more of an interest on the street and everyday life

•Using subconscious creativity, to make images of dreams, hallucinations, and almost anything not rational

•Rejection of bourgeoisie rationalism

How Surrealism is Different•Changed from Dada ideas of anarchy, negativity and nonsense to automatic writing, dreams, psychoanalysis and chance

•Surrealism is also less political then Dada and more theoretical• Rejected Dada’s disgust and replaced it with interest with the unconscious mind

•It shares strangeness with Dada but is different from most other art movements

Sunrise by the Ocean by Vladimir Kush

• This painting rejects rationalism as it does not exist in the real world

• uses the power of imagination imagining the sun coming out of an egg

• Uses Automatism with the brush strokes with the clouds and waves

• Is almost dream like

Reply to Red by Yves Tanguy• Uses the power of

imagination as they are very strange unique images

• Uses subconscious creativity as it is dreamlike with the blue background and strange shapes

• Uses Automatism using weird strokes to create weird images

The Son of Man, Rene Magritte• Used old techniques

to make it seem as glimpsed with it looking like a man but is strange with an apple in front of it, Magritte is famous for this

• Uses the power of imagination, with the mysteriousness of the mans face being covered with a apple

• It rejects bourgeoisie rationalism with the apple being in front of his face not being rational

The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dalí

• Uses Subconscious creativity with it being dreamlike being clocks melting on a coast• Rejects rationalism with everything melting being unordinary• Is a strange image that might appear if glimpsed, with it having many real world items such as clocks, Dali is famous for this

Saw Three Cities• Uses imagination

with the strange shape in the center

• Uses automatism with the free-like brush strokes used to make the strange shape

• Rejects rationalism, as nothing like this exists in the real world

Sculpture Retrospective Bust of a Woman, Dali

• Fits in with surrealist ideas of dream like images with a woman with a baguette and wooden statue on her head

• Described as “absolutely useless and created wholly for the purpose of materializing in a fetishistic way, with maximum tangible reality, ideas and fantasies of a delirious character.” by Dali himself

Architecture Dali Museum by Yann WeymouthFits with the idea of strangeness and dreamlike and is the museum of the most famous surrealist artist Dali

Cool surrealist concept buildings by Victor Enrich

Work cited http://all-that-is-interesting.com/most-iconic-surrealist-paintings/3 http://www.beautifullife.info/art-works/surrealistic-paintings-by-vladimir-kush/ http://www.arthistoryunstuffed.com/comparison-of-dada-and-surrealism/ http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/history-of-art/surrealism.htm https://www.nationalgalleries.org/collection/surrealism/introduction-to-surrealism http://www.industrytap.com/surrealist-architecture/10364 http://www.worldguide.eu/wg/index.php?StoryID=378&ArticleID=20462 http://www.theartstory.org/movement-surrealism.htm http://io9.com/these-examples-of-surrealist-architecture-makes-you-fee-770208963