Surrealism Art
Mention Salvador Dali and you will be transported to the world of Surrealism art, a world which almost seems to mirror a universe with parallel and different laws. From surprise to shock, to comparisons that a layman (even one with an overactive imagination) would never think off, Surrealism was not just an art form but a cultural movement that affected every thought and practice in the world, from the political thinking of people to the way they expressed themselves in movies, poetry, literature, and of course, artwork. Understanding what surrealism art is can be difficult, especially without understanding what brought about the movement, what its main characteristics were, and who were its proponents.
Surrealism Artwork
Towards the end of the First World War, many artists who had moved to different parts of the world from Paris became proponents of the Dadaism movement which held the belief that the war was a result of excessive rationalization, and an increase in bourgeois living. The way in which Dadaists protested the war was with anti-art movements, different performances, art works, and literary works. History tells us that the first seeds of thought regarding the movement were conceptualized from the remnants of the Dadaism movement. The person who can be called the founder of the Surrealism movement was Andre Breton who regarded the movement a form of revolution. The definition as given by him says that Surrealism is a "pure psychic automatism, by which one proposes to express, either verbally, in writing, or by any other manner, the real functioning of thought. Dictation of thought in the absence of all control exercised by reason, outside of all aesthetic and moral preoccupation."
Extremely influenced by Freudian theories, Surrealism art is in a manner the expression of imagination as seen in one's dreams. The entire gamut of Freud's theories that dealt with free association, analysis of dreams and of the unconscious, were extremely important to Surrealist artists. Most artists of the movement laid their claim on eccentricity without an acceptance of being mad. As can be figured out from one of the famous Salvador Dali quotations, "There is only one difference between a madman and me. I am not mad." Another important characteristic of the Surrealist art movement was the juxtaposition of elements that were rarely ever actually featured together. The aim behind combining two disparate elements was to create something that shocked and startled. Most artists of the Surrealist movement aimed at breaking the shackles that bound people to conventional, rational behavior, and customs and traditions.
One of the most famous painters on a Surrealist canvas was Salvador Dali, who helped popularizing this art movement. A lot has been said and written on Surrealism and Dali and the effect that the artist had on the way people perceived this artistic movement. If you study Surrealism art, you will see that there is a lot of technique involved, as well as focus on content. But despite this, there was an attempt to appreciate what an untrained artist would see as art. This stemmed from the belief that free from rules, a mind tends to be more imaginative in the ideas it generates.
Most artists who painted in the Surrealist form, used free association and one of two methods of expression; Absolute Surrealism and Veristic Surrealism. While the former believed in the expression of ideas of the subconscious, the latter focused on creating a connection between the abstract and the real. Salvador Dali worked in the Veristic school of Surrealism, often juxtaposing images from the real world with imaginary situations. It is believed that movements of the art world like Abstract Expressionism and Magic Realism were born from Surrealism in art. Lowbrow art or Pop Surrealism art as it is also known, is also a throwback from this art movement.
It is difficult to understand this movement completely without maybe taking a lesson. Paintings like Elle Loge La Folie, Indefinite Divisibility, or The Elephant Celebes, are works that just give you an insight into the shock and awe that Surrealism art inspires.
