O surrealism was an artistic movement that emerged in Europe, whose initial milestone was the Surrealist Manifesto in André Breton, published in 1924. Surrealism criticized bourgeois rationality in favor of the wonderful, the fantastic and dreams, encompassing a large number of artists, among them, we can mention: in literature, André Breton, Louis Aragon, Philippe Soupault and others; in the plastic arts, Joán Miró, Max Ernst, Salvador Dalí and others; in the photo, Man Ray, Dora Maar and Brasaï; and, in the movies, Luis Bunuel.
In Breton's words, one of the goals of surrealism was "to resolve the hitherto existing contradiction between dream and reality by creating an absolute reality, a super-reality". This perspective led these artists to seek inspiration in the psychoanalyst's work Sigmund Freud, bringing to art the irrational, the unconscious, exploring the imaginary and the hidden impulses of the mind. In this sense, some artistic production techniques adopted were automatic writing and painting, as they would be forms of immediate transcription of the unconscious, thus seeking to circumvent the artist's conscious controls, releasing the images that came to their minds and their impulses primitives.
Sculpture by Joan Miró on display in a park in Barcelona, a city with several works by the artist**
Do not stop now... There's more after the advertising ;)
Another technique used was the collages, in which images were randomly gathered and random, creating a juxtaposition of disconnected objects and associations that at first glance seemed impossible. This method was inspired by the phrase of the Count of Lautréamont: '"Beautiful as the chance encounter between a sewing machine and an umbrella on a dissecting table."
In the political aspect, the revolutionary and subversive character The surrealist proposal brought some artists closer to political groups of Marxist lineage, such as André Breton, when he aligned himself with Trotskyism. On the other hand, some remained in a more conservative sphere, such as Salvador Dalí.
Stamp stamping work by Max Ernest. ***
*Image credits: anky and Shutterstock.com
**Image credits: nephthali and Shutterstock.com
*** Image credits: Nitom and Shutterstock.com
By Tales Pinto
Graduated in History
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
PINTO, Tales of the Saints. "Surrealism"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/historiag/surrealismo.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
