SURREALIST ART
The surrealist movement was an artistic movement started in 1924 in Paris. The movement is often described as bizarre, irrational and even clownish. Looking at surrealist artworks it’s not hard to figure out why the movements received these comments. The movement was focused on liberating the individual and freeing the subconscious mind.
This idea of freeing the subconscious mind was based on a theory developed by Sigmund Freud. He believed that the mind had two sections, namely the conscious and subconscious mind. According to him, the conscious mind was dominated by rational thinking and logic and limited by social manners. The subconscious mind on the other hand was filled with desires, unprocessed experiences and instincts. The subconscious was free of the barriers that limited the conscious mind, but it is suppressed by the conscious mind.
The surrealist movement attempted to unlock the subconscious mind by a number of exercises like transcribing dreams and trance states, rapid-fire questionnaires, automatic drawing exercises and stream of consciousness writings. They believed that unlocking the subconscious mind would unlock humanity’s full creative potential and would have collective politically revolutionary consequences.
Surrealist artist used various chance operations and relinquished the creative control to their materials like pouring sand over glue, burning photographic negatives or using light sensitive paper to create shadows. These exercises would in turn result in unpredictable compositions that forced artists to give up the power they had over the process of creating in order to reach the part of their selves that went beyond reason.
Surrealists also made use of random found objects in order create unexpected compositions with juxtaposing objects. Perhaps one of the most famous examples of these juxtaposing objects it the "Le Déjeuner en fourrure" piece by Méret Oppenheim (Commonly referred to as "Breakfast in Fur" in English). The piece is a cup and saucer that is covered in fur. The two ideas are so contrasting and seem impossible to bring together, because it doesn’t make sense to the conscious mind. Yet Oppenheim combines these two bizarre objects in a way that highlights the way your senses experience specific objects differently. Fur may be pleasing to the touch, but it repels the tongue.
Title:Le Déjeuner en fourrure
Artist: Méret Oppenheim
Year: 1936
Another extremely popular surrealist artwork is The Persistence of Memory by Spanish artist Salvador Dali. The painting could be interpreted in many different ways, but perhaps the simplest interpretation of the painting is that the painting is a representation of what it feels like to dream. The melting clocks are a reference to the erotic manner in which time passes while you dream.
Title: The Persistence of Memory
Artist: Salvador Dali
Year: 1931
Even though many people may not understand surrealist art it is still a highly influential art form that is extremely creative. Artists could learn a lot about creativity and freedom in design by studying surrealism.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Shabi, K., 2013. Salvador Dali Persistence Of Memory: Meaning Of The Melting Clocks. [online] Legomenon.com. Available at: <https://legomenon.com/salvador-dali-persistence-of-memory-melting-clocks-meaning.html> [Accessed 14 August 2020].
Artatthevac.com. 2018. SURREALISM. [online] Available at: <https://www.artatthevac.com/surrealism> [Accessed 14 August 2020].
Tabone, S., 2015. Surrealism. [online] History of Art. Available at: <https://sophietabonehistory.wordpress.com/2015/11/15/surrealism/> [Accessed 14 August 2020].
