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Art History Of Surrealism

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Surrealism is about expressing the unconscious mind. It is not about what is but rather what could be. I chose the art movement because I have been fascinated with it since high school. I researched Surrealism for my art journal, and upon finding Rene Magritte’s works, I fell in love. I love that Surrealism pushes viewers to not just question themselves but to question the world around them. Each Surrealism piece shows a world that cannot exist anywhere but within ourselves, and Surrealism artists are the vessel through which we can experience these worlds. I find that I much prefer the Surrealist worlds of make believe to any other. In 1924, Dadaism gave birth to Surrealism, and it flourished in Europe between World War I and World War II. Founded by Andre Breton, Surrealism was an artistic and literary art movement that, unlike Dadaism, expressed positive philosophy and proposed enlightenment. Profoundly influenced by Sigmund Freud, Breton became obsessed with the unconscious mind; he believed the unconscious mind, the source dreams, was the basis of all artistic creativity. Surrealist artists believed that the rational mind blocked the power of the imagination, and they strived to channel the unconscious as a means to unlock this power. By doing so, Surrealists hoped to unify the world of dream and fantasy to that of the everyday rational world. The Surrealism art movement allowed artists to express themselves in ways never thought possible, and although Surrealism was

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