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Surrealism

Surrealism explores dreams, the unconscious and the irrational. It shows strange, impossible scenes painted with careful realism.

Period
Early twentieth-century modernism
Approximate dates
From 1924 through the mid 20th century
Place of origin
Paris, France
Key regions
France, Belgium, Spain, Mexico, United States, worldwide
Art forms
Painting, photography, film, sculpture, poetry
Major artists
Salvador Dali, Rene Magritte, Max Ernst, Joan Miro, Leonora Carrington, Frida Kahlo (associated)

Visual introduction

  • The Dream

    Henri Rousseau · 1910 · Oil on canvas · Museum of Modern Art, New York

    A dream-like jungle scene by a self-taught painter whom the Surrealists admired as a forerunner of their imagery.

    Image: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

  • The Cyclops

    Odilon Redon · c. 1914 · Oil · Kroller-Muller Museum, Otterlo

    A giant one-eyed creature watches a sleeping figure, a dream image that Surrealists admired as a forerunner.

    Image: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

  • The Two Fridas

    Frida Kahlo · 1939 · Oil on canvas · Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City

    A dream-like double self-portrait, though Kahlo said she painted her own reality rather than dreams.

Historical context

Andre Breton published the first Surrealist Manifesto in Paris in 1924. The movement grew out of Dada and was influenced by the ideas of Sigmund Freud about dreams and the unconscious. Many members were shaped by the First World War and later by the rise of fascism.

Surrealists used automatic drawing, chance and dream imagery. The movement spread worldwide, and it influenced film, advertising and later painters, including the Abstract Expressionists.

Visual characteristics

Two approaches: dream-like scenes painted in precise detail, and automatic or free-flowing forms.

Subject: odd combinations, melting or floating objects, hybrid creatures and puzzling titles.

Mood: mystery, humour and unease, with symbolism drawn from the unconscious.

Related movements

Sources and further reading

Further reading: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. Tate, Art Terms. Smarthistory.