Bellmer: Surrealism

"Surrealism was founded in Paris, in 1924, by the poet Andre Breton [1896-1966, France] and continued Dadaism’s exploration of everything irrational and subversive in art. Surrealism was more explicitly preoccupied with spiritualism, Freudian psychoanalysis and Marxism than Dadaism was. It aimed to create art which was ‘automatic’, meaning that it had emerged directly from the unconscious without being shaped by reason, morality or aesthetic judgements."

Key artists:

Paul Klee – 1879-1940, Switzerland

Max Ernst – 1891-1976, Germany

Joan Miro – 1893-1983, Spain

Alberto Giacometti - 1901-66, Switzerland

Salvador Dali – 1904-89, Spain

Frida Kahlo – 1907-54, Mexico

Keywords – Unconscious, irrational, dreams, automatism, juxtaposition, destruction, eroticism

Little, S. (2004) Isms: Understanding Art. London: Herbert – P118