This document provides an overview of surrealism including its founding, history, major artists, and influences. It was founded in 1924 by André Breton with the goal of uniting the conscious and unconscious realms. Major surrealist artists included Salvador Dali, René Magritte, Man Ray, Max Ernst, and Joan Miró. Their work was influenced by events like World War I, Sigmund Freud, and automatic writing. Surrealism had a large impact on later art movements and styles in various mediums.

1. Dan AdsitLiz FerrillErin FowlerSurrealismSurrealismLiz FerrillDan AdsitErin Fowler6th hour

2. BackgroundFounded in 1924 by André Breton (Surrealist Manifesto)Manifesto stated: it was the means of uniting the conscious and unconscious realmsThe world of dream and fantasy would be joined to the everyday rational world in a “surreality”Emphasis on psychic automatism: artist using the interplay between free creation and unconscious where there is no conscious controlMajor artists include Dali, Magritte, Man Ray, Ernst, and Miró

3. HistoryThe revolution took place through the medium of automatic writing

4. Automatic writing: continuation of writing without thinking what is beneath your pen, writing as fast as you can, choosing a letter to begin a sentence at random

5. Gave an outlet for repressed thoughts and instincts

6. History Cont.Dadaism provided a “vital staging point”

7. Considered to be the pre-Surrealist phase

8. Surrealism has a lighter spirit than Dadaism

9. December 1, 1924: La Revolution Surrealistewas the “the most shocking review in the world”

10. Two distinct groups emerge: Veristic and Absolute SurrealistsAbsolutev. Veristic

11. History Cont.Surrealists’ Goal: attempt to discover a super-reality Tap into hallucinatory power of the irrationalSurrealist poets were reluctant to align themselves with visual artists (laborious process of painting, drawing, sculpting were at odds with spontaneity of uninhibited expression)Surrealist movement in Europe dissolved with onset of World War IIRenewal in the United States around 1940

12. Influences on SurrealismWorld War IWorld War IIDadaHeisenbergSigmund Freud and Carl JungEinstein

13. JoanMiróBackground and TimelineBorn in Barcelona (1893)Referred to as the “most Surrealist of us all” by Andre BretonDisciplined, orderly, reliable, punctilious man

14. JoanMiró Timeline1913-17: Fauvist influence-Close objects with bright, broken colors, decorative ornaments1918: Detailistic phase/poetic realism (farms)“The Farm”(1921)

15. JoanMiró1923: Move toward sign-like forms, geometric shapes, overall rhythm1924: joined Surrealist group led by breton (never completely integrated himself) 1927-28: Images crowded, gradually simplified“Horse, Pipe, and Red Flower”(1920)“Air” (1930)

16. JoanMiró1930s: Experimentation with materials, dropped all traditional practices1950: Mottled and “painterly” background, touches of colorbut mostly black and white1950-70: Monuments and sculptures“Figurgegen rote Sonne II”(1950)“Lunar Bird”(1945)

17. Constellations

18. Miró:PaintingsInfluenced by:Catalan folk art (flat, 2-dimensional, natural forms)Romanesque church frescoes in native SpainCrude execution, simple, flat, cartoon-like imagesPrimary colors with thick black boundaryDark surrounding fieldMemory, fantasy, “hunger hallucinations”, informalismGrattage: partial images (complete image in mind of viewer), scrap paint off canvas with a trowel, increase textureConcentrated interest on the symbol embedded in piece

19. Miró:PaintingsPaintings have a whimsical, humorous quality (like a 5 year old’s drawings)Differences of scale (largest object is most important)Playfully distorted animal forms, geometric constructions, organic shapesLimited range of bright colorsOverall type composition: encompass entire canvas evenlyMovement (curves, organic forms)Characterized by body language and freshness

20. Harlequin’s Carnival (1924-1925)

21. Still Life with Old Shoe (1937)

22. The Garden

23. SalvadorDali“Every morning upon awakening, I experience a supreme pleasure: that of being Salvador Dali”1904-1989

24. Dali’sBeginningPaintingsLandscapes, houses, olive trees, portraits, boats

25. Bright and exuberant colors

26. Influenced by cubism, psychology, and philosophy

27. Finds comfort in art from ambiguous sexuality

28. Encouraged by Roman Pichot

29. “The Sick Child” (1915)Mother’sDeathSwitched from portraits and landscapes to images that reflect his tormented soul

30. Influenced by Neo-Cubists, Impressionists, and Realists, Hieronymus Bosch’s landscapes of hell“Garden of Earthly Delights” (1515)

31. MeetingPicasso (1926)“Figure on the Rocks” (1926)“Apparatus and Hand” (1927)

32. Un ChienAndalou(1929)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pib9zv1dHcE“The Great Masturbator” (1929)“The Enigma of Desire: My Mother, My Mother, My Mother” (1929)

33. “DismalSport” (1929)

34. ParanoiacCriticalMethodInduced paranoid state Gain greater understanding of world and realityWork through obsessions with symbolism“The Persistence of Memory” (1931)

35. “TheEnigma of WilliamTell” (1933)

36. PostSpanishCivilWar“Soft Construction wit Boiled Beans (Premonition of War)” (1936)“Autumn Cannibalism” (1936)

37. PostWorldWarII“Daddy Long Legs of the Evening-Hope!” (1940)

38. NuclearMysticismMysticism: Energy behind Roman Catholicism

39. Paintings become more comprehensible to public

40. Reflects growing interest in Catholicism and in post WWII science and physics

41. Heisenberg replaces Freud as “father”“Galatea of the Spheres” (1952)

42. “The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory” (1954)

43. “The Hallucinogenic Toreador” (1970)

44. AndreBretonWriter/poetPublished magazine, La RévolutionsurréalisteOne of the founders and leaders of the Surrealist movementMain Style:Automatic writing

45. “Les Champs magnétiques(The Magnetic Fields)”(1920)First piece to employ automatic writing

46. TheSurrealistManifesto (1924)“pure psychic automatism whereby one’s intention is to express, either verbally or in writing, or in any other way, the real functioning of thought”

47. LesVasescommunicants (The Communicating Vessels) (1932)Aimed to establish the existence of close connections between dreams and the waking state

48. ManRay- “I photographed as I painted, transforming the subject as a painter would”- “I do not photograph nature. I photograph my visions”Experimented with new photography procedures:Rayograph: photographs without a camera-Also experimented with writing, painting, and Surrealist objects

49. “Le Violond'Ingres” (1924)

50. Untitled Rayograph(1922)

51. “Electricity”(1931)

52. “The Gift”(1921)

53. ReneMagritte“An object is not so attached to its name that we cannot find another one that would suit it better”

54. Founded Belgian Surrealist Group, member of Breton’s group in Paris

55. Juxtaposed ordinary objects in an extraordinary way - Methodical in his painting, had mastered the traditional art styles

56. Querelledesuniversaux (1928)

57. Latrahisondesimages (The Treachery of Images) (1929)“This is not a pipe”