Surrealism And Surrealism

To begin, we will look at the ideals and influences that led to the formation of surrealist ideals,

The surrealist movement of the 1920s-1930s was largely based on the notion that excessive rational thought is a catalyst of conflict and war throughout the world. Salvador Dali’s The Persistence

André Breton ran the Surrealist Movement with impressive discipline and rigidity, making an interesting contrast between what the Surrealists preached and the management style of its leader. An interesting story, for example, tells how Salvador Dalí, one of the most prominent members of the Surrealist movement, attended a New York costume party dressed up as Charles Lindbergh’s son, who had been recently kidnapped and murdered. New York’s society did not take the statement well and eventually made Dalí apologize for his behavior. Breton, however, almost dismissed him from Movement because he claimed that “no one should excuse himself for a Surrealist act[6].” This anecdote demonstrates the seriousness of Breton and his Movement towards its final objective: revolution and the slashing of society’s conventions in the interest of a subconscious reality.

It developed out of Dadaism and depicted the world of enlightenment, i.e., surreal world. It was born soon after Dada, which emphasized metaphysical paintings inspired by the imagination and accidental juxtaposition of objects. It aimed to make people become more aware of poetic aspects, rather than scientific ones, by exploring and explaining unconscious mind and freeing imagination. Despite Dada’s limitations, the exploration of Freud’s suggestions done by surrealists opened countless new paths. Surrealism goes even further from nihilistic Dadaism, which denies humankind, society, order, ethics, and art, and pursued unconscious world, dream world, and automatic world, thus seeking a new artistic

It is this author’s judgment that a specific photographic artwork of Man Ray is not a legitimate link between George Hodel and Elizabeth Short’s murder given that there are discrepancies when analyzing Short’s body and Man Ray’s artwork. On the other hand, there may be a link between surrealism as a link to Short’s murder. However, it is a weak link that seems to be based on pure speculation, forcing readers to make conclusions without first inquiring George Hodel’s legitimacy, or lack thereof, as a surrealist. The overarching argument here is that while George Hodel may have killed Short, neither Man Ray’s artwork nor the movement known as surrealism seem to be a legitimate connection to Short’s murder.

Before this project, I had actually seen a few of Magritte’s paintings on social media that I thought were intriguing because they appeared dreamlike and unconventional. Then, because of this previous exposure, I expected to find many art pieces that were surreal. Surrealism is a genre I have always had an affinity for and have wanted to explore more, which is my main reason for choosing Magritte. The most important thing I learned while doing research on Magritte was about his role in the Surrealism movement and influence on other artists.

Having sheltered, to a certain extent, art from scientific reduction, (the philosophy of realism) it is appropriate, before further examination, to similarly give asylum to art from idealism, so that the philosophical position of this paper remain clear. Idealism is a doctrine which values the idea above the material. Insisting that, the perfection of an idea can never be captured in material form. Admittedly, it is true that the image of an idea can never be made physical and continue as, purely, an idea. But an artistic idea is only as beautiful as a scientific idea is useful, that being not at all if not applied to the external world. The ideal beauty of the Platonist is worthless, to the world, without being expressed; if the function of an ideal beauty is not expressed, the idea dies having never impregnated the minds of others and thus, goes extinct. Realism attempts rigorous reduction and idealism abhors and takes for granted the beauty of, physicality; therefore, the absurdist view is the only logical one, because it recognizes both the ideal and the material without holding one in greater favor than the other, acknowledging that both are equally important to the human condition which manifest the absurd; the artistic ideal is nothing if not expressed and the

Surrealism is type of cultural movement that came into being in 1920s and it is renowned for the visual artworks and writings. The main aim of the emergence of surrealism was to get a solution to what was a previously contradictory condition between dream and reality. Artists painted illogical, unnerving scenes that had photographic precession. They also created strange creatures from the objects that existed everyday. They were also able to develop techniques in painting which allowed what was not conscious to express itself. The work of surrealists features elements like surprise, juxtapositions that are unexpected and non sequitur. On the other hand many surrealist artists and writers term their work as being an expression of philosophical movement in the first place and their work being artifacts.

American fashion designer Tom Ford once said that, "...these are surreal times we're living in…”, referencing the forward thinking and fast paced world of modern art in all of its forms. Surrealism was a cultural movement beginning in the early 1920’s that was known primarily for its visual artworks. The aim of surrealism was to "resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality" and tap into the unconscious mind. Surrealist artists sought to channel the unconscious as a means to unlock the power of the imagination. Their emphasis on the power of personal imagination puts them in similar categories of true romantics, but unlike their romantic predecessors, they believed that inspiration could be found on the street in everyday

The Surrealists believed that the conscious mind repressed the power of imagination and dreams, weakening it by norms or taboos. They utilized unusual and untraditional techniques and phenomena to achieve subconscious creativity, eradicating the line between dream and reality.

Surrealism and Salvador Dali      Surrealism is defined as an art style developed in the 1920's in Europe, characterized by using the subconscious as a source of creativity to liberate pictorial subjects and ideas. Surrealist paintings often depict unexpected or irrational objects in an atmosphere or fantasy , creating a dreamlike scenario ( www.progressiveart.com 2004). The word Surrealism was created in 1917 by the writer Guillaune Apollinaire. He used it to describe two instances of artistic innovation ( Bradley 6). In 1924, in the Manifeste du Surrealisme which launched the surrealist movement, the writer Andre Brenton and his friend Philippe Soupault adopted the word,“baptized by the name of

The surrealist art movement began to take form during the 1920’s. There were many famous artists who helped this movement gain as much popularity as it received. However, George Visat claimed his fame in the 1950’s and 1960’s when, in many respects, this movement began to decline. Visat wanted to what he could to save this movement, which is evident through his work through the second half of the twentieth century.

Though often confused with surrealism; Arnason, the author of “History of Modern Art”, explains that surrealism differs

Frida Kahlo and Salvador Dali were two figures that emerged in the mid-1900s who made their marks on the artistic world through their interpretations of surrealism. Surrealism, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, can be defined as “a 20th century art form in which an artist or writer combines unrelated images or events in a very strange and dreamlike way” ("Surrealism”). The overall goal of surrealism is to unearth an idea that lies within one’s mind and imagination, and express it. Moreover, the movement of surrealism began in the late 1910s and lasted until the early 1920s (Ades and Gale). While both Kahlo and Dali were classified surrealists of their time, Kahlo expressed herself through a wide range of tragedy-filled paintings,

As mentioned surrealism, like Dadaism, tried to distance itself from contemporary culture and sought to shock the familiarity of reality. Hence, the unconscious has a centrepiece in surrealist art and the underlying theme was to create images of such unconscious situation or universes. This was primarily achieved with the use of symbolism and the placing of objects in unfamiliar settings. This would revitalize and redefine such objects outside the conventional reality that is the adversary in surrealist art and hence create the desired conflict between the conventional and the unconscious (Waldberg 1997; Martin 1987).