Art Genre: Surrealism - Esther

The dream world & the real world are the same.

(Remedios Varo)

You might not be able to easily define it, but you know it when you see it. Even the original Surrealists had differing views, motivations & purposes. It’s like punk – everyone that’s interested enough argues about what it means. A consensus is almost impossible to achieve. But why can’t everyone be right? Whatever it means to you is what it means. In my opinion therefore, Surrealism is one of the most important art movements in the history of art. You can argue about that too.

The term “surrealism” was first used in 1917 but the Surrealist movement began in 1924, involving art & literature & heavily inspired by Dada. Dada was a movement that dismissed the logical, rational & the bourgeois. It had political purpose & aligned itself with the radical left wing.  Surrealism developed from these ideas into something broader & more far-reaching. Initially there were two schools of Surrealism, each with their own manifesto, who argued to the point of physical fighting… To some, Surrealism was all about the dream state, the unconscious & Freud’s ideas about psychoanalysis. To others it was a celebration of the absurd, the childlike or the clever juxtaposition. To others still, it was a means to involve political ideas such as anarchy & communism. 

“Surreal” is a label that has become part of everyday idiom. It is commonly used to refer to something odd or unusual whether in cinema, comedy, art, TV, literature, design, advertising, fashion, experiences & even behaviours. What sprang from a serious protest movement has become mainstream, often comical, often disturbing & something completely different in meaning.

If I may continue the comparison with punk, Surrealism is 1991 to Dada’s 1976.

Now watch me deftly avoid the most successful & famous Surrealist of all…

André Breton (1896-1966), France

Exquisite Corpse (c. 1930) 

André Breton’s initial Surrealist Manifesto defined Surrealism as “pure psychic automatism.” Automatism required that all control be suppressed when making any sort of art. It quickly changed of course. There is no suppression of conscious control in much of the art created even at the time. Breton was mainly a writer & poet but produced visual works too such as in the Exquisite Corpse (c. 1930) collaborative game (along with Nusch Eluard, Paul Eluard & Valentine Hugo).

André Masson (1896-1987)

Automatic Drawing (1924)

One artist who enthusiastically took up the baton of automatic drawing was André Masson, for example in his Automatic Drawing of 1924. His practice would at times include altered states as well as chucking substances onto canvas & using the results to develop paintings. He came & went in terms of the Surrealist movement but maintains the honour of having been denounced as a “degenerate artist” by the Nazis.

René Magritte (1898-1967), Belgium

The Therapist (1937)

Magritte brought wit & wisdom to surrealism. He made you think & at times laugh. Because his art is so accessible in terms of use of familiar objects & realist technique, he succeeds in encouraging us to rethink the immediate world around us. This accessibility invites parody & copyists. Magritte shows us that we cannot believe our eyes & often explores psychological ideas as in The Therapist. 

Max Ernst (1891-1976)

Aquis Submersus (1919)

Influenced by the novel of the same name & metaphysical painting, Ernst’s work here is deliberately unclear. What is happening to the person in the pool? Are they swimming or drowning? The moon is replaced by a clock & the water represents the unconscious. Given that the title is Latin for “drowned in the waters,” it’s perhaps indicative of the fact that much surreal art is disturbingly close to memento mori.

Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978)

Mystery and Melancholy of a Street (1914)

Like Ernst, de Chirico was interested in the metaphysical style of painting, where the overall feeling is one of menace & impenetrability. The style used the contrast of very heavy shadow & extreme light to evoke an unreal quality. Peculiar subject matter or odd combination of objects or figures would create an unsettling atmosphere.

Leonora Carrington (1917-2011), UK-Mexico

Bird Bath (1974)

Carrington brought yet another focus to her art. Rather than an interest in the ideas of Freud, she concentrated on using her own experiences, transformation & magic realism. Her themes were influenced by the sexuality of women & early concepts of gender identity.

Yves Tanguy (1900-1955), France

Promontory Palace (1931)

In spite of the curving lines & seemingly organic forms, this Tanguy painting is instantly recognisable as a fictitious landscape. Although it has the effect of the land features being fluid or melting, they are nevertheless white, as if covered with snow. There is a feeling of this being an existing location, yet everything about it is impossible.

Harue Koga (1895-1933), Japan

The Sea (1929)

Koga’s painting methods stemmed from photocollage techniques, where he would gather a range of printed images & arrange them into a composition. Then he would paint the resultant arrangement, tinkering with size & perspective as he went along. There is a theory that the unusual aspect in his images may have sprung from a lack of depth perception due to an eye accident in childhood.

James Ensor (1860-1949), Belgium

Skeletons Fighting Over a Pickled Herring (1891)

As a precursor to & influence on surrealism, James Ensor produced wobbly, queasy figure paintings, often with a similarly unnerving vibe to later works by Grosz or Dix. Perhaps his most famous painting is Skeletons Fighting Over a Pickled Herring (1891), which portrays the absurdity of everything - whether you’re a skeleton or a herring. All parties just as dead as each other but they nevertheless have a message. Feel free to interpret it differently. If you can.

Dora Maar (1907-1997), France

Untitled (fashion photograph) (c. 1935)

Using photography to surrealist effect, Maar combines the world of clothing design with art & ideas. Her paintings take on the influence of others around her, but in photography she was photoshopping before Photoshop; she came into her own with a camera & produced highly distinctive & memorable images. Untitled (fashion photograph) of c. 1935 uses woman as clothes horse & object but makes her something special, something detached & perhaps other-worldly. 

Remedios Varo (1908-1963), Spain

The Useless Scientist or the Alchemist (1955)

Friends with Leonora Carrington, Varo was also interested in the politics of gender & oppression. In several works, we can see the deep influence of Bosch on her art & ideas. Due to political turmoil, Varos found herself having to flee Spain for France then France for Mexico. Her work employed surrealist themes as well as ethereal & transcendental symbols. The figure in The Useless Scientist is ambiguous, appearing feminine but without the usual indicators for women found in more male-based surrealist works. As the cloak blends into the tiled floor, is the space around the figure reality? Or a figment of their imagination…?