Surrealism was an artistic movement that began in the early 20th century that explored the subconscious mind and dream imagery. Some key artists of this movement include Salvador Dali, Rene Magritte, and Giorgio de Chirico. They employed techniques like juxtaposition, scale manipulation, levitation, dislocation, transparency, and transformation to challenge rational thought and social norms in their bizarre and dreamlike imagery. Magritte is well known for works like The Son of Man that feature unusual juxtapositions of common objects. Dali's most famous work is The Persistence of Memory, which features melting clocks. This document provides information on surrealist artists and their use of compositional

1. SURREALISM
Popular Artists &
Compositional Techniques

2. • 1910-1920's Literary and Artistic movement.
• Poets, writers, and artists explored the
subconscious mind and dream imagery that
were heavily influenced by the psychological
studies of Sigmund Freud.
André Breton was a French writer and poet. He is known
best as the founder of Surrealism. His writings include the
first Surrealist Manifesto of 1924, in which he defined
surrealism as "pure psychic automatism"

3. The founder of the
Metaphysical art
movement, Giorgio de
Chirico was an Italian
(Born in Volos,Greece)
surrealist painter, whose
work implied a
metaphysical questioning
of reality.
(DE CHIRICO)

4. Salvador Dalí was a skilled
draftsman, best known for the
striking and bizarre images in his
surrealist work.
His painterly skills are often
attributed to the influence of
Renaissance masters.
Dalí's expansive artistic repertoire
included film, sculpture, and
photography, in collaboration with a
range of artists in a variety of media.

5. Rene Magritte was one of
the most well known and
famous surrealist painters
of all time, yet it was not
until his 50s, when he was
finally able to reach some
form of fame and
recognition for his work.
(MAGRITTE)

6. SURREALISM TECHNIQUES think “PHYSICAL aspects”
Juxtaposition- placing objects near each other for impact
Scale- using known size relationships to communicate
Levitation- floating objects that do no float; using knowledge of weight
Dislocation -taking objects out of their normal environment
Transparency -making objects transparent or opaque against their normalcy
Transformation -transforming from one physical state to another

7. Juxtaposition-
placing
objects near
each other for
impact
(DE CHIRICO)

8. (DE CHIRICO)

9. Scale-
using known size relationships to communicate
(MAGRITTE)

10. (MAGRITTE)

11. Levitation- floating objects that do no float;
using knowledge of weight
(MAGRITTE)

12. Dislocation -
taking objects
out of their
normal
environment
(MAGRITTE)

13. (MAGRITTE)

14. Transparency -
making objects
transparent or
opaque against
their normalcy
(MAGRITTE)

15. (MAGRITTE)

16. Transformation -from one physical state to another
(DALI)

17. (DALI)

18. (DALI)

19. (DALI)

20. Dali’s best-known work, The Persistence of
Memory was completed in August 1931.

21. (DALI)

22. Magritte has many popular images, his best-
known work, The Son of Man was completed
in 1964.
Magritte says:
“At least it hides the face partly well, so you
have the apparent face, the apple, hiding the
visible but hidden, the face of the person. It's
something that happens constantly. Everything
we see hides another thing, we always want to
see what is hidden by what we see. There is an
interest in that which is hidden and which the
visible does not show us. This interest can take
the form of a quite intense feeling, a sort of
conflict, one might say, between the visible
that is hidden and the visible that is present”

23. THIS IS NOT A PIPE BY MAGRITTE

24. FALSE MIRROR BY MAGRITTE

26. PROJECT DETAILS:
1. PULL OUT RANDOMLY MAGAZINE PAGES OF IMAGES YOU LIKE OR CATCH YOUR EYE.
2. FOLD OUTER EDGES OF BLACK PAPER TO MEET IN THE MIDDLE TO CREATE A “DOOR”
3. CUT AND GLUE IMAGES THROUGHOUT THE INSIDE OF THE BLACK PAPER UTILIZING
THE VARIOUS SURREALIST TECHNIQUES, ESPECIALLY JUXTAPOSITIONING AND SCALE.
4. SET ASIDE 1 LARGE IMAGE FOR YOUR COVER, THAT YOU WILL CUT IN HALF, AND GLUE
ONTO THE DOOR.
5. DO NOT PUT YOUR NAME ON THIS PROJECT. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!!!!
6. TURN IN PROJECT INTO RANDOM PILE
7. CHOOSE 1 PROJECT THAT YOU DO NOT KNOW THE ARTIST
8. YOU WILL BE LEAD THROUGH THE 4 STEP PROCESS OF ART CRITICISM BEFORE
FINALIZING VAAS AND GRADING.
All images and information gathered from online resources and are for educational use only.