Often referred to as ‘superior reality’, surrealism is more than an artistic style and technique—it’s a movement!
“Surrealism is based on the belief in the omnipotence of dreams, in the undirected play of thought.” – André Breton
Beginning in the 1920s, surrealism art finds its root in the theory of psychoanalysis. However, defining this genre of art is slightly difficult as it cannot be characterised by themes of imagery, colours, techniques unlike other creative movements.
With a focus on illustrating the mind’s deepest thoughts, surrealism paintings usually feature dreamlike and bizarre imagery. With its imaginative imagery, experimental artistic approach, and subconscious-inspired texts, this art seeks to explore the unconscious mind using the literary technique of automatism, that relies entirely on the subconscious for creativity.
Here, we will present the collection of 8 magnificent surrealism paintings to trace the uprising of the artistic movement:
- Battle of Fishes by Andre Masson
French surrealist painter, Andre Masson was experimenting with the painting media within ‘Battle of Fishes’ (image below). This stunning surrealism painting is a poetic depiction of conflict and metamorphosis using the imagery of surreal underwater landscape where sharp–toothed fish involved in battle with each other. Andre Masson used a rather unusual artistic method in creating surrealism artwork – he tossed the sand onto canvas for added texture & complexity, and also rapidly sketched and applied paint directly from the tube. His striking approach to painting influenced the abstract art and other art forms.
- The Tilled Field by Joan Miro
A complex arrangement of objects and figures, ‘The Tilled Field’ (image below) is considered to be one of Catalan painter Joan Miro’s first surrealist art. Painted in 1923-24, this oil-on-canvas painting depicts a stylised view of landscape at Mont-roig-del Camp in his homeland.
Miro’s vision and vivid colorful imagination feature Catalan landscapes with its history, at the same time reflecting the current political situation in Spain during the 1920s. He had excellent ability to conjure evocative space through innovative use of line, organic shapes, and colour.
- The Great Masturbator – Salvador Dali
‘The Great Masturbator’ (image below) is one of the early masterpieces by Salvador Dalí‘s created during the surrealist epoch. During this period, Dali was fascinated by Freud’s psychoanalytic theory and obsessed by unconscious aspects of self as well as sexually repressed structure and ego system. It is believed that Great Masturbator is kind of a self-portrait, which depicts Dali’s overgrown ego and its transformation with time, set-up in dreamlike surreal landscape portraying objects of desire – beloved Gala or desert oasis and elements of paranoid fears unknown – faceless figures and insects.
- Egg in the Church or the Snake by Andre Breton
Andre Breton is undoubtedly of great significance for the original Surrealism movement owing to the manifesto writings and active contribution both to the scene and surrealist theory through his writings, artworks, publications and polemics. Although the ‘Egg in the Church or the Snake’ is not a painting but a photographic collage fusing text and image, it is considered a surrealism painting because of the concept of questioning the role of the author, expanding the media and pioneering use of photo-montage as a visual experiment. The strong cryptic and dream-like subject matter along with its surreal symbolic language deal with the Christainity’s concept of repression of sexual desire.
“People love mystery, and that is why they love my paintings.”– Salvador Dalí
- The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali
Known for his weird and outlandish subject matter, Salvador Dali was one of the most enigmatic artists of the 20th century. His most famous work of art ‘The Persistence of Memory’ (image below) featuring melting watches in a dream-like atmosphere is widely regarded as a surrealist masterpiece. Developed using a paranoiac-critical method, this artwork embodies the sensibilities that define the experimental and eccentice genre.
- The Barbarians by Max Ernst
A prolific artist, Max Ernst was a pioneer of the Dada movement and surrealist art. Strongly influenced by surrealist artworks and writings of Andre Breton and Sigmund Freud‘s theory of unconsciousness, Ernst created ‘The Barbarians’ (image below). Through this surrealism painting, the artist explores his own childhood memories, subconscious mind as well as primitive mythological and sexual symbols. Featuring gigantic barbarians in a surreal landscape, the painting symbolises how democracy transformed into barbarism.
He has created the strange patterns on the bodies of the pivotal figures in the painting, which evoke fossils or geological formations using the technique of grattage (scraping) wherein he coated the canvas with layers of paint and while it was still wet pressed it against objects that left imprints on the surface. Later on, he used a brush to touch up the patterns created scraping away extra layers of pigment.
- Mama Papa is Wounded by Yves Tanguy
Inspired by Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis and its language of symbols, Yves Tanguay painted the surreal landscape of his surrealist masterpiece ‘Mama, Papa is Wounded.’ (image below) He along with his fellow surrealist painter, Andre Breton conducted research on psychiatric cases of war veterans in postwar Europe and transposed their statements into the modern abstract artwork. The title of this surrealism painting is like children’s cry and resembles broken family relations in the post-apocalyptic landscapes. Highlighting the grief and mourning of losing a loved one in catastrophe, this artwork leaves the viewer feeling sad.
- The Treachery of Images by Rene Magritte
Postwar explorations in surrealism were strongly influenced by structuralist language theories and the concept of the gap between language and meaning. Rene Magritte’s ‘The Treachery of Images’ (image below) depicts a simple imagery of the pipe with a contrasting statement “This is not a pipe”. Thereby, displaying the thesis of the difference between signifier and signified object to the viewer. This surrealist masterpiece of Magritte was the introduction to Pop art and inspired its further development.
