Surrealism Essay

The term "grotesque" in art and literature, commonly refers to the juxtaposition of extreme contrasts such as horror and humor, or beauty and monstrosity, or desire and revulsion. One function of this juxtaposition of the rational and the irrational is to subdue or normalize the unknown, and thereby control it. The simultaneity of mutually exclusive emotional states, and the discomfort it might cause, inspires a Freudian analytic critical approach because of its focus on controlling repressed desires through therapeutic rationality. There are volumes of Freudian art criticism, which typically begin by calling attention to manifestations, in some work of art, of the darkest desires of the id. Perhaps in no field

Coupled with the use of unusual concepts of artistic expression, as well as experiments in form and content, surrealism sought to exploit the unrealized and unexplored spaces of art in often shocking and controversial ways.

In this book, the usage of the surrealism is either used as exaggeration or combine the story that really happened along with what could have or should have happened, or at least O'Brien´s thoughts were included to make a story. Surrealism can sometimes reveal the truth, but at the same time, can confuse the readers or the audience because they would probably not know the truth unless they were present at that moment, when the story took place. Not only it can confuse the readers or the audience, if they do not know the truth and they do not recognize that the story has surrealism in it, they would probably take it as truth. Especially in this book, because the story deals with the war story and the author was a soldier at that war, the audience will hardly find whether the story in the book really happened or not, more likely to not know the situation when the war did not took place in U.S. or happened few decades ago. What makes the surrealism is that when the story contains the word ¨seems¨ and the phrase that contains too many descriptive or figurative languages, because when the story is being descriptive, there are high chance that the writer is making up the story. The author who uses surrealism in their non-fiction book, usually writes the truth with some exaggerations to make the reader more entertaining or describe more so they can understand it better, however, many people

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

While there are many different historical art periods I will bring together two that I found to be extremely interesting. There are so many wonderful facts about all the different art periods that I’ve chosen to bring to life two “Surrealism and the Harlem Renaissance”. These art periods have many differences yet their evolution have many of the same reasons for existing. The artistic evolution of “Surrealism” commenced in France in

Andre Breton founded the Surrealist movement in 1924 with his Manifesto of Surrealism which argued that art can benefit from an understanding of the Freudian dreamscape. His definitions of Surrealism were, “Dictionary: Surrealism, n. Pure psychic automatism, by which one proposes to express, either verbally, in writing, or by any other manner, the real functioning of thought. Dictation of thought in the absence of all control exercised by reason, outside of all aesthetic and moral preoccupation. Encyclopedia: Surrealism. Philosophy. Surrealism is based on the belief in the superior reality of certain forms of previously neglected associations, in the omnipotence of dream, in the disinterested play of thought. It tends to ruin once and for all other psychic mechanisms and to substitute itself for them in solving all the principal problems of life” (Breton, 1924).

Surrealism is a movement in art and literature that occurred in the 20th century which influenced the incorporation of fact and fantasy in a piece. Tim O’ Brien uses surrealism in The Things They Carried to show how many war stories incorporate this idea of false and factual stories combined. He says that many of the things that occur on a daily basis are stories that are made up and the stories that no one believes are the ones that actually happen. The idea behind surrealism is to tap into the potential of the human mind. This incorporation of surrealism helps to enhance the plot of the book.

Wassily Kandinsky has been part of my fascination and love for art for approximately ten years now. Beginning when I was a freshman in high school, and every year as part of our art classes, my instructor would do small units on art theory and highlight artists throughout those units, Kandinsky included. While my talents, in particular, are somewhat limited to what I can represent, Kandinsky was the first to break Western art’s most “important rule:” that art need to depict anything (Frank, 396). As the first to break away from art being representational, Kandinsky opened other avenues of expression, as well (Wassily-Kandinsky.org). Surrealism, the movement I am most fascinated by, is something I believe is a natural extension from art representing nothing, to art representing multiple things.

Surrealism is a form of art which attempts to recreate the human mind, or as

Abstract Expressionism is making its comeback within the art world. Coined as an artist movement in the 1940’s and 1950’s, at the New York School, American Abstract Expressionist began to express many ideas relevant to humanity and the world around human civilization. However, the subject matters, contributing to artists, were not meant to represent the ever-changing world around them. Rather, how the world around them affected the artist themselves. The works swayed by such worldly influences, become an important article within the artists’ pieces. Subjectively, looking inward to express the artist psyche, artists within the Abstract Expressionism movement became a part of their paintings. Making the paintings more of a representation

Each artist of the Dada era had a new way of expressing Freud?s ideas. They also felt that art was a powerful means of self-revelation, and that the images came from ones subconscious mind had a truth of its own. As Marcel Duchamp mocked the Mona Lisa by drawing a Padilla 3 mustache on her, stated that the painting was a lewd message set by the conventional way of thinking. Since the Dada artist did not believe in western culture this made sense, because people only want believe what is told to them, instead of what is true. The Dada movement marked a meeting of people to have ?noise concerts? where they recited poems in a free association verse. In these poetry readings the artist perceived how they felt about the world. As World War I began the Dadaist perceived it as a world gone mad. Not only did they express their work in unconventional ways; they used the subconscious as a way of making their views true. Although the Dada era was short lived it influenced and questioned the traditional concepts of the western world. These techniques set an agenda for a new trial by error art form of this same era. The spirit of Freud in the Dadaist era never really died, it is shown today as ?Pop art? or sometimes known as neo-Dada art forms. Also this revolution of thinking and art paved the way for the Surrealist movement. The Surrealist movement of the 1920?s through 1930?s captivated the world with its bizarre way of thinking. Just as the Dadaist used

The surrealist artists believed the dream state and subconscious mind to be an untapped and very fertile creative fount of inspiration. The symbolism of dreams and the expressive images generated by the subconscious were far more thought provoking than the representational, logical images of the conscious mind. The surrealist artists were creating art out of what others thought to be garbled and unintelligible. They were in effect taking a concept created to heal and using it to create art instead. They were on to something with this. No matter what the medium or the style used, a bit of the self becomes visible and evident in the result. Art therapy is one of the modern descendants of this movement.

As Dali moved into his Surrealist years he became more interested in psychology and exploring his own fears and fantasies. Dali’s Surrealist period last from 1929-1940, in which years he joined the Surrealist Movement, and shortly after became a leader in this movement. In order to bring images from his “subconscious mind”, Dali began to use a method to find inspiration for his art; he would induce hallucinatory states in himself. As his work matured, and his fame grew

The surrealist movement holds emotional authenticity and social activism as the highest ideals. Influenced by the work of Freud and Jung, the arts are viewed as psychic manifestations that go deeper than external reality. Spontaneous techniques, like psychic automatism (i.e. automatic writing and drawing), generate images from the unconscious and result in content similar to dream experiences and contemplating these images provides a new experience of reality (McNiff, 2009).

Most of us connect surrealism with art and images from Dali and his generation. However, the artists of the surrealist movement regard their work as an expression of the original philosophical movement with the works being an artefact that philosophy. André Breton was clearly in his view that surrealism was above all, a revolutionary and radical philosophical movement, explaining that is not a matter of aesthetics, but rather a way of thinking, a point of view (Waldberg 1997; Pass 2011:29-30).