Surrealism

Surrealism was a literary and artistic movement whose adherents sought to revolutionize both art and life by utilizing the creative powers of the subconscious. The movement originated in France in 1922 as an outgrowth of Dadaism, a movement of artists and writers who responded to the horror and chaos of the First World War by creating chaotic and intentionally meaningless works. Led by André Breton, a Dadaist poet and medical student who was profoundly influenced by the theories of Sigmund Freud, the Surrealists broke with the nihilistic ideology of Dadaism in order to pursue the expression of a “superior reality” by means of compositional techniques that emphasized the role of the subconscious in the creative process. Openly expressing their contempt...