Art History: Exploring the Avant-Garde Art of Surrealism

With its imaginative imagery, experimental artistic approach, and subconscious-inspired subject matter, Surrealism may seem like a difficult genre to grasp. However, once one learns about its fascinating roots, key artists, and well-known works, it is clear that the mysterious movement is actually an accessible and approachable form of art—and one that continues to charm audiences and even artists today.

History

The Surrealist art movement began in the 1920s, when visual artists like Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst, Man Ray, Joan Miró, and Yves Tanguy adopted automatism, a literary technique that relied entirely on the subconscious for creativity. This tool had been recently pioneered and popularized by André Breton and other Surrealist writers in Paris, who paved the way for the art form with their dream-like texts and Dada-inspired interest in experimentation.

What is Surrealism Definition Avant-Garde Art Surrealist Artists Define Surrealism

‘André Breton’ by Man Ray (1931)
© 2012 Man Ray Trust/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris
Photo: MoMA

The idea of automatism appealed to the group of artists, who, in their work, sought liberation from rationalism and complete creative freedom. Thus, it is not surprising that many of the artists had often looked to similarly-minded movements like Cubism, Expressionism, and Post-Impressionism. Combining elements of each, they settled on a visual approach lacking “any control exercised by reason, exempt from any aesthetic or moral concern.” (André Breton, Manifestoes of Surrealism) and formally founded the Surrealist art movement.

Surrealist artists in 1930. Top row from left: Paul Eluard, Jean Arp, Yves Tanguy, Rene Clevel
Bottom row from Left: Tristan Tzara, Andre Breton, Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst, Man Ray

In addition to experimenting with automatism and exploring the self-conscious, Surrealist artists aimed to challenge perceptions and question reality through their work. This fascination is the focus of The Treachery of Images, a painting by René Magritte that features only a pipe and the text: ceci n’est pas une pipe (“this is not a pipe”). By pointing out that his depiction is not actually a pipe but merely a painting of one, he plays with interpretation and draws attention to the inherent deception of art.

‘The Treachery of Images’ by René Magritte, 1929
© C. Herscovici, Brussels / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Photo: LACMA

Aesthetic Approaches

Most Surrealist artists expressed themselves through painting and produced works that exhibit their interest in combining a realistic style with unrealistic subject matter. This paradoxical approach is particularly evident in The Persistence of Memory, one of Salvador Dalí’s most well-known “hand-painted dream photographs.” This piece pairs a lifelike landscape and painting style with bizarre iconography, including an organic, anthropomorphic figure, a barren tree, and the now-iconic melting clocks, .

‘The Persistence of Memory’ by Salvador Dalí, 1931
Photo: MoMA
© 2017 Salvador Dalí, Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

This push-and-pull between reality and fantasy is also evident in the oeuvres of René Magritte and Ives Tanguy. The Son of Man, a later painting by Magritte, and Indefinite Divisibility, a piece by Yves Tanguy, illustrate this sentiment and showcase the artists’ ability to simultaneously employ a realist style and a surreal approach to subject matter.

‘The Son of Man’ by René Magritte, 1964
Located in private collection.

Still, some Surrealists did not work in this photograph-like style, as apparent in The Elephant Celebes by Max Ernst and The Harlequin’s Carnival by Joan Miró. Though, aesthetically, these pieces bear little in common, both perfectly capture the artists’ painterly, almost naive approach to typically Surrealist subject matter.