Surrealism

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Surrealism

1921 1931 painting by Max Ernst, at Tate London
Years active	1920s - ?1960s
Country	France, Belgium
Major figures	Breton, Dalí, Ernst, Magritte
Influences	Dada
Influenced	Abstract expressionism, Post-modernism

Surrealism

Surrealist Manifesto Surrealist cinema Surrealist music Surrealist techniques Birmingham Surrealists

Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for its visual artworks and writings. The aim was to "resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality".^{[1][better source needed]} Artists painted unnerving, illogical scenes with photographic precision, created strange creatures from everyday objects and developed painting techniques that allowed the unconscious to express itself.^[2]
Surrealist works feature the element of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions and non sequitur; however, many Surrealist artists and writers regard their work as an expression of the philosophical movement first and foremost, with the works being an artifact. Leader André Breton was explicit in his assertion that Surrealism was, above all, a revolutionary movement.
Surrealism developed out of the Dada activities during World War I and the most important center of the movement was Paris. From the 1920s onward, the movement spread around the globe, eventually affecting the visual arts, literature, film, and music of many countries and languages, as well as political thought and practice, philosophy, and social theory.