Surre

alism
VISUAL ARTS
UNIT: ART & IMAGINATION
Year 9

S. RICHARDSON

Key features of
Surrealism
Surrealism sought to
free the imaginative
human mind and reveal
the unconscious,
encouraging radical
change and rejection to
logic and reasoning.
Surrealism literally
means above and
beyond reality.
S. RICHARDSON

Key features of
Surrealism
Surrealist art
often shows
weird, bizarre,
dreamlike
subject matter
because
Surrealist artists
were interested
in depicting the
world of
dreams,
nightmares,
desire, and
imagination.

S. RICHARDSON

Salvador Dal, The Dream, 1937

Key features of
Surrealism
The movement began in Paris in the

1920s, partially in reaction to the

horrors of World War I and was also
influenced by the research and work of
Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud
(1856-1939), who founded
psychoanalysis.

Freud had significant influence on the

beliefs and practices of the Surrealists.

He believed that our subconscious
thoughts are symbolically represented
in our dreams and fully understand
ourselves, we need to tap into these
dreams and messages. Artists, writers
and poets were inspired to explore the
conscious and subconscious mind.
Sigmund Freud

S. RICHARDSON

Key features of
Surrealism
Dada was a closely associated movement

with the Surrealists, which began in Europe

around the 1916. Both the Dadaists and
Surrealists felt a sense of freedom of
expression and were appalled by the horrors
of World War I (1914-18). They took a radical,
new, anti-art approach that also challenged
traditional social and artistic values and
rejected rational thought and order. World
War II effectively ended organised Surrealist
activities in Europe. Many Surrealists took
refuge in the United States, where their ideas
influenced many younger artists including the
Abstract Expressionists. Surrealism continues
to influence many artists today.

Surrealism developed out of the writings of a

poet called Andre Breton (1896-1966). Breton

wrote the Manifesto of Surrealism in 1924,
which highlighted the importance of the
dream state in art & writing. Breton defined
Surrealism as: Psychic automatism in its pure
state, by which one proposes to express -verbally, by means of the written word, or in
any other manner -- the actual functioning of
thought. Dictated by the thought, in the
absence of any control exercised by reason,
exempt from any aesthetic or moral concern.

S. RICHARDSON

Marcel Duchamp, Fountain,

1917

Two main types of

Surrealists

The first group created artworks that

were done automatically, without

thought, and were meant to show the
workings of the subconscious mind. Freud
used a method called free association to
help patients with mental illness. This
idea was adopted by many Surrealists,
who painted whatever came into their
heads. Artists such as Joan Miro (Spanish,
1893-1983) and Andre Masson (French,
1896-1987) tried to achieve this in their
works through abstraction and without
reference to objects, people, places or
things.

Andre Masson,
Automatic Drawing,
1924
Joan Miro, La Leon de Ski,
1966

 The second group, which included artists

such as Salvador Dali (Spanish, 19041989) and Rene Magritte (Belgian, 18981967), used very familiar everyday
objects painted in a formal, realistic style
and juxtapositions them in unexpected
places that were impossible, the way
things may occur in a dream.

Rene Magritte, Golconde, 1953

Salvador Dali, One second before

awakening from a dream caused by
the flight of a bee around a
pomegranate, 1944

Salvador Dali
Dals approach to surrealism is

described as a spontaneous method of

irrational behaviour.
Dal uses realistic items to reveal his
dreamlike images. His paintings are
executed with great care and often
depict recognisable objects in great
detail and are usually placed in
unrealistic situations, often using
distortion.
His artistic pursuits included painting,
dressmaking, jewellery, film-making and
sculpting.
Dali sought personal frame and was
often outrageous in his life. Dali felt he
had to live his life in a surreal manner in
order to be a surreal artist. He once
gave a press conference with a boiled
lobster on his head and went to a
costume party dressed as a rotting
corpse.

Salvador Dal, Persistence of Memory,

1931
How many clocks can you
count in Persistence of Memory?

What is surreal about this painting?

Rene
Magritte
Magritte often used everyday objects and
transformed them, linking back to the initial
function of the object. His ability to capture the
form and paint realistically was important.
Magritte paints Son of Man as a self-portrait with
a suspended apple, defying gravity. In the rest
of the setting, the brick wall, sea and sky are
normal.
How could you interpret this painting using
ideas of psychoanalysis? What could the apple
be hidingliterally and philosophically?
S. RICHARDSON

Rene Magritte, The Son of Man, 1964

S. RICHARDSON

S.

Ceci nest pas une pipe

At first glance you disregard the inscription, but then

you allow yourself to contemplate a little more and

then the light bulb turns on. It is as said, not a pipe
but a representation of it. This painting challenges us to
value critical knowledge and processing. As humans,
we visualize images and language but almost
neverdifferentiate betweenthe idea of
representations vs. reality. Humans have this amazing
capability of critically thinking, of understanding the
idea of individuality. What is fascinating is how often we
discard our critical thinking cap as we are bombarded
with representations of reality.

S. RICHARDSON

TASK
Rene Magritte
Empire of Light
Critically assess this
painting.
What did you see first?
After contemplating what

do you now see?

What is not right about this
scene?
How has Magritte achieved
this deception?
Why do you think it is
important to develop critical
thinking in Visual Arts?

S.

Mir was influenced by surrealist poetry, writing

and automatism. He created paintings, ceramic

sculpture and sets for theatre and dance.
The Potato is a playful artwork involving the
elements of shape, movement and colour to
suggest form and space. There is a linear,
floating and spatial quality where partially
identifiable organic forms interact.

S. RICHARDSON

S. RICHARDSON

Joan Miro, The Potato, 1928

James Gleeson
James Gleeson is an Australian

surrealist artist who was

influenced by the psychoanalytic
theories of Freud as well as of
Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung and
Andr Breton..
For more than six decades James
Gleeson has worked in Surrealism,
exploring the possibilities beyond
the obvious and everyday objects
juxtapositioned with alternative
realities experienced through
dreams, hallucinations, and
differing mental states. Rather
than focusing on purely private
fantasies, the most significant
contributions made by Surrealist
artists, including James Gleeson,
are the visionary and profound
statements that comment on the
human condition.
S.

James Gleeson,Sentinels of the Late Season, 1987

S.

James Gleeson, Fire, 1995

S. RICHARDSON

TASK
Salvador Dali
Find 4 examples of his work and create a work

sheet, including the titles and dates, for your VAPD

Choose one of these and write a story or narrative
explaining what you believe the dream depicted in
the artwork was about.
Describe the artwork
what do you see?
What colours have been used?

Your explanation needs to be half a page of writing.

S. RICHARDSON