Surrealism
Where Dreams Become Art
What Does "Surreal" Mean?
Have you ever said "that's so surreal"? It means something is dreamlike, bizarre, unreal – things that don't seem tethered to reality. Surrealism is an art movement that embraced exactly that!
When: Developed in Europe after World War I (1920s-1930s)
Why: Artists were deeply traumatized by WWI and wanted to escape the crushing weight of reality by exploring dreams and the subconscious mind.
Watch: Introduction to Surrealism
💡 The Big Idea
Surrealists thought: "Everything's so heavy right now, let's make art about nothing. Let's make art completely meaningless and focus on our wildest dreams!"
They were heavily influenced by Sigmund Freud, who wrote "The Interpretation of Dreams" and explored how our subconscious affects our waking life.
🎭 Automatism
Like improvisation in jazz! Artists would create without thinking – closing their eyes to draw, or writing stream-of-consciousness to push back their rational minds and tap into pure instinct.
🔀 Juxtaposition
The most Scrabble points you can get! This means combining unlike or unexpected objects to create visual contrast. A lobster on a telephone? Why not!
🎺 Assemblage
Putting together found objects and common things in weird ways. Artists would take cheap, mass-produced items and make intentional changes to make you feel uneasy or laugh.
Famous Surrealist Artists
Salvador Dalí 🕰
Most Famous Work: "The Persistence of Memory" (the melty clocks painting!)
Dalí had a HUGE ego and an even bigger mustache! He used what he called the "Paranoic Critical Method" – basically, he would meditate to induce hallucinations to help create his artwork.
Symbolism: Dalí often used ants in his work to represent decay and the inevitability of death. His "Burning Giraffe" was about the Spanish Civil War and he believed it was a premonition of WWII.
Frida Kahlo 💔
Mexican artist who painted powerful, emotional self-portraits dealing with pain, identity, and culture.
Famous Works: "The Two Fridas" and "The Wounded Deer"
Her work often explored her struggle between modern identity and traditional Mexican culture, as well as her physical and emotional pain.
René Magritte 🚬
Famous Work: "The Treachery of Images" – a painting of a pipe with text saying "This is not a pipe"
Magritte's dry humor pointed out that paintings aren't real – they're just representations! His work explored the line between reality and representation.
"Golconda" shows men in bowler hats raining from the sky – exploring themes of individuality vs. conformity.
Meret Oppenheim ☕
Famous Work: "Object" (fur-covered cup, saucer, and spoon)
Man Ray 👁️
American Surrealist known for photography and assembled sculptures.
"Object to Be Destroyed": A metronome with a cutout of his ex-girlfriend's eye attached to it. He literally gave instructions for viewers to make their own version and destroy it with a hammer! Very angsty.
"The Gift": An iron with nails glued to the bottom – making it completely useless. Get it? An iron? (Okay, that pun was in the original lecture.)
Remedios Varo 🔬
Spanish artist who fled to Mexico during WWII. Her work was inspired by Hieronymus Bosch and combined science, magic, and alchemy.
"La Creación de las Aves" (The Creation of Birds) shows an owl-like figure painting a bird that comes to life through moonlight refracted through a prism. Wild, dreamlike, and incredibly detailed!
Why Surrealism Happened
✏️ Surrealism Sketchbook Challenge
The Dream Object
🎯 Your Mission
Use the Surrealist concept of Juxtaposition to create a bizarre, dreamlike, and entirely new object by sketching a combination of 3–4 unrelated things.
🎨 Concept Focus
- → Juxtaposition: Combining unlike or unexpected objects to create visual contrast.
- → Subconscious: Exploring hidden parts of the mind to create an image that feels like it came from a dream or is "unreal".
📦 Materials Needed
- ✓ Sketchbook
- ✓ Pencil, pens, colored pencils, or markers
- ✓ Google Images (for reference)
🎨 The Challenge Steps
1 Select Your Objects
Find 3 to 4 completely unrelated objects using Google Images or observations in the room.
2 Juxtapose and Combine
Sketching the Impossible: Draw your chosen objects combining into one new, impossible object on your sketchbook page.
3 Final Touches & Title
Give your new creation a unique, surrealist title (e.g., "The Immobile Vessel of Dawn," or "The Perpetual Clock-Shoe").
📝 Writing Prompts
Write a 2-3 sentence description of your new object on the sketchbook page using the guides below.
Part 1: Identifying the Combined Objects
Use these to clearly state the items used for Juxtaposition:
- "For my Dream Object, I combined a (Object 1), a (Object 2), and a (Object 3)."
- "The three things I drew together were a (Object 1), the (Object 2), and a piece of (Object 3)."
- "This surrealist creation is made out of a (Object 1), which is melting into a (Object 2) that rests on a (Object 3)."
Part 2: Explaining the Bizarre Function or Meaning
Use these to explain the dreamlike or unreal quality:
A. Explaining a Bizarre Function
- "The bizarre function of this object is to (new action) whenever (trigger)."
- "Although it looks like a (Object), this new piece actually (does a strange, unexpected thing)."
- "When you press the (part of an object), the whole object begins to (move or change in a strange way) because it is powered by (an impossible source)."
B. Explaining a Dream or Feeling
- "This object represents the dream I had about (a simple event), but where (the objects acted differently)."
- "I created this object because I wanted to show the feeling of (emotion/sensation), where everything feels (adjective: heavy, floating, sharp)."
- "The piece is meant to make the viewer feel (a complex emotion, like uneasy or joyful) by showing (a small detail or action in the drawing)."
Key Vocabulary
Surreal – dreamlike, bizarre, unreal
Subconscious – the part of your mind you're not actively aware of
Automatism – creating art without conscious thought, like improvisation
Juxtaposition – placing unlike objects together for contrast or effect
Assemblage – art made by combining found objects