This movement consisted of strange paintings that
manipulated everyday objects into a strange form. The founder of this movement
is the French medical student and poet, Andre Breton in which he took
inspiration from dreams as they symbolize the inner thought of one’s mind.
During the early years of surrealism, it consisted more of a literary group
until Italian paint “Giorgio De Chirico” filled the gap between romantic art
and surrealism. (The Shock of the New – Ep5 – The Threshold of Liberty, 2014)
This painting by Giorgio De Chirico shows a similar
dream like style of painting that is very common in surrealism. De Chirico
wanted to show the torn world created because of World War 1 by using humanoid
forms, destroyed architecture and dark, eerie streets. (Moma, The Song of Love)
In my opinion the painting has a very interesting symbolist feel. The strange
and out of the ordinary large object automatically attract the viewer and makes
him ask questions because of the mysterious nature of the picture. Because of
the mystery behind the picture, viewers would find it even more interesting as
because we as humans, love and fear the unknown.
For surrealists such as Chirico’s student, Max
Ernst, he believed that the irrational mind is the perfect source for this
movement. Surrealist’s looks at three main sources such as the Children art
they believed the innocent eye is not repressed as to that of adults. Madness
and was also a large source for inspiration as surrealists believed this is the
highest form of revoke to a tolerable world. The last source of the irrational
was primitive art because of the “pure” look of the style. (The Shock of the
New – Ep5 – The Threshold of Liberty, 2014)
During this movement, one of the most important
figures of surrealism would be the Spanish painter, Salvador Dali. Dali’s work changed
art during that time. He created paintings with illusions and often manipulated
objects to appear somewhat differently; this method could be seen in the
painting called “The Metamorphosis of Narcissus” were Dali converted Narcissus’
reflection into a hand holding an egg. Dali also was fascinated in “Double
image” paintings as well. Dali commonly placed his inner memories, anxieties
and sexual thoughts in his paintings. (The Life and Art of Salvador Dali –
Discovery/History/Biography (documentary), 2014)
Persistence of Memory is considered as Dali’s most
famous piece. The painting shows a beach
landscape in the background and 4 clocks melting in the foreground. Dali based
this image from his home, Colombia. Dali wanted to show to confuse viewers of
reality by painting small details on the decaying clocks. Some even say that
the creature in the middle of the painting is a self portrait of Dali himself. (Moma,
The Persistence of Memory)
Dali’s work ranged from paintings and fashion to
even cinema. His work had a huge influence towards interior design because of
the fun and original look they would have. Surrealism changed art even today.
Interior designers still use surrealist style because of its fun and original
nature. Surrealism painting is still in practice today and many contempory
artists are influenced by Surrealism’s style, ideas and technique. (The Life
and Art of Salvador Dali – Discovery/History/Biography (documentary), 2014)
Digital media is commonly used in contempory
Surrealism art nowadays as it gives some advantages to easily manipulate
pictures. An example for this could be seen in Saeed Khalifa’s surrealist gallery
where he manipulates images together to create a dream-like image. (Artsy,
Saeed Khalifa, 2014)
Bibliography
1.) The Life and Art of Salvador Dali –
Discovery/History/Biography (documentary), 2014 (video file), Available from: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GONauCKYj0s>.
[Accessed 27 December 2014]
2.) The Shock
of the New – Ep5 – The Threshold of Liberty, 2014 (video file), <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0HeSrqXKps
>. [Accessed 27 December 2014]
3.) Arcandilla, Surrealism and how it is Used Today,
2011. Available from: <http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/inspiration/modern-surrealism-and-history/>.
[Accessed 27 December 2014]
4.) Saeed Khalifa, Rokn V (2014), Arty, 2015,
Available from: <https://artsy.net/artwork/saeed-khalifa-rokn-v>.
[Accessed 27 December 2014]
