Surrealism (1920s – 1940s)
Surrealism grew out of the trauma of World War I and was strongly influenced by Sigmund Freud’s ideas about dreams and the unconscious mind. The name comes from the French surréalisme (“beyond realism”), reflecting the desire to explore imagination and irrational worlds. Artists like Salvador Dalí and René Magritte created dreamlike scenes where ordinary objects were placed in strange or impossible situations. Surrealists used techniques such as automatic drawing, collage, and unexpected juxtapositions to free the imagination. By the 1940s, many Surrealists had moved to America, where their ideas influenced Abstract Expressionism.
Learn more WikiArt - Surrealism
Artworks to be inspired by-
You may like to try to reproduce the work by Magritte. I will be taking inspiration from Toshiko Okanoue for my demonstration.
René Magritte – The False Mirror (1929, oil on canvas)
“Magritte’s Surrealist painting shows a giant eye with the sky reflected in it. He used oil paint in a realistic way, but placed ordinary things in strange, dreamlike situations. That’s what Surrealism is about — making the familiar look mysterious and unsettling.”
Toshiko Okanoue – Yobi-goe (The Call) (1953, photomontage collage)
“This collage by Toshiko Okanoue was made using cut-out magazine photographs. By combining unrelated images into surreal, dreamlike scenes, she echoed the Surrealist tradition. Collage was a way to create new worlds out of the everyday.”
Key Artwork example of the movement
Salvador Dalí – The Persistence of Memory (1931)
Dalí’s famous “melting clocks” painting is a classic Surrealist work. By placing realistic objects (clocks, landscapes) in an impossible and dreamlike arrangement, he created a strange, unsettling world that feels both familiar and irrational. Surrealism was about unlocking the unconscious mind, and Dalí’s precise technique combined with bizarre imagery makes this work an iconic example.
Artists to Research:
Rene Magritte
Max Ernst
Joan Miró
André Breton (leader of the movement, also a writer)
Yves Tanguy
Leonora Carrington
Dorothea Tanning
Man Ray
Paul Delvaux