Surrealism

Surrealism developed out of Abstraction in France in 1924 as a result of a split in the Dada movement. Its main concern was the portrayal of the interior world – the world of the psyche and the imagination – rather than that of the exterior, visible world. In a manifesto issued by André Breton at its inception, the movement was described as 'pure psychic automatism without any conscious preoccupation'. Surrealism was greatly influenced by the theories of psychoanalysts such as Freud and Jung, especially those concerning dreams and the subconscious. Amongst its precise aims were the fusion of the dream world with the everyday, and the exploration of the relationship between the unconscious and art. In this connection, the psychoanalysts' theory of a 'collective unconscious' with its typical dream symbols led to the inclusion of African and Oceanic art images, such as voodoo masks and totemic objects in Surrealists' works.

In the 1930’s the movement had a strong political bias and was officially aligned to Soviet communism. In Britain the Surrealists were anti-establishment, refusing to participate in mainstream exhibitions. They staged their own 'great exhibition', The International Surrealist Exhibition, at the New Burlington Galleries in 1936 and included works by leading British Surrealists such as Roland Penrose and Eileen Agar, as well as international artists such as Salvador Dali. Although the paintings were ridiculed by both press and critics, Surrealism was accepted more readily by the viewing public than most modernist movements. This was arguably because of the humour the works often contained, then an uncommon commodity in the world of 'serious' art and also perhaps for a subliminal effect from the images portrayed. In the 1960's Surrealist art became a minor cult in Britain with the publication of the Athena greetings cards and posters, which reproduced paintings by artists such as Chagall, Dali, Miro and Picasso.