Surrealism is an artistic, philosophical, intellectual and political movement that aimed to break down the boundaries of rationalization to access the imaginative subconscious. It is a descendent of the Dadaism movement, which disregarded tradition and the use of conscious form in favor of the ridiculous. First gaining popularity in the 1920s and founded by Andre Breton, the approach relies on Freudian psychological concepts.
Guiding Principles
Proponents of surrealism believed that the subconscious was the best inspiration for art. They thought that the ideas and images within the subconscious mind was more “true” or “real” than the concepts or pictures the rational mind could create. Under this philosophy, even the ridiculous had extreme value and could provide better insights into a culture or a person’s desires, likes or fears.
A major reason why many people took issue with the movement was because it tossed away conventional ideas about what made sense and what was ugly. In fact, much of what advocates produced was designed to break rules in overt ways. The art and writing of the style often holds images or ideas that, under traditional modes of thought, are disturbing, shocking or disruptive.
Differing Viewpoints
Although all surrealists agreed that the subconscious was the key to accessing the imagination, not all of them agreed on how to view the subconscious mind. This led to some differing views and practical applications. Two schools developed, automatism and veristic surrealism.
Automatism was a form of writing in which a person holds a pencil or pen, tries to clear away conscious thoughts and then simply allows the pencil to flow. The technique eventually crossed over into visual art such as drawing and painting. It relies heavily on the free association and dream techniques of famed psychologist, Sigmund Freud. People who practiced automatism used abstractionism and didn’t worry about analyzing the meaning of images, believing that lack of form was a good way of rebelling against social and philosophical issues.
Veristic surrealists adopted Carl Jung’s belief in the universal subconscious, which was the theory that all people possess an innate knowledge and understanding of images. By looking at the images and identifying the metaphoric significance within them, these individuals hoped to access and understand subconscious behavior and thought. Writer and professor Joseph Campbell later did significant work on this topic, exploring the commonalities among different mythic structures and reoccurring symbols in myths.
Practitioners and Examples
Artist Pablo Picasso was a practitioner of automatism. His work lets go of traditional practices and results in a more primal form of art. Much of his work is based in his concept that children’s ingenuity can provide essential access to the inner mind.
Most writers who practiced surrealism were French poets who followed automatism, including Paul Eluard, Philippe Soupault and Louis Aragon. The works of Virginia Woolf and James Joyce also employ a stream of consciousness approach. The Irish poet W.B. Yeats advocated the use of automatism and showed an interest in the topic prior to the start of the movement.
Salvador Dalí is an example of an artist who followed the veristic school. He very much believed that art should be studied and mastered, and that expression of the unconscious would spring from metaphor. His work juxtaposes contrary or anachronistic images and derives more directly from Dadaism. He lent his skills not only to painting, but to film, as well, designing the dream sequence for Alfred Hitchcock’s Spellbound. People now regard this sequence as one of the best examples of the style in film.
Contemporary Surrealism
Though surrealism gradually waned in interest and was replaced by the artistic philosophy of modernism, one does not have to look far to see examples in modern art and film. Miyazaki's 2005 film Howl’s Moving Castle places ridiculous and anachronistic images in front of background drawings of very realistic early 19th century English towns. Many children in primary grades are taught self-portraiture relying specifically on portraits by Picasso. In literature, magical realism in works by authors like Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Salman Rushdie contain elements of the style.
