Welcome to Surrealism Online

History of Surrealism

Surrealism was (and is) an art movement that combined everyday forms and objects that are seen by most people with strange atmospheres, and creates a total bizarre image for the viewer. This movement's history is closely linked with that of Abstractionism. After World War I, Tristan Tzara, in beginning the Dada movement (see below), sought to attack traditional art by create art of ugliness. Unfortunately for him, the industrially wealthy population that he sought to offend accepted and embraced this movement.
Surrealism came into this time, as World War I ended and life went back to relative normality. Led by French author Andre Breton, this movement was unlike Abstractionism, which also came out of the Dada movement, in that it did not abandon the "craft" that had been passed down throughout Europe's history. Artists of this movement created very unrealistic and seemingly random pictures of the subconscious, but they painted things, to speak plainly, generally how they actually look, just not in the place or situation that these things would normally be in. This movement of the subconscious was heavily influenced by the works of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung.
Though the surrealist movement was declared dead in 1941, and is now in history textbooks as history, it still survives in some circles to this day. As abstractionism became the predominant form of art in the middle years of the 20th century, modern surrealist artists are rarely recognized by critics or in galleries. Perhaps in the future this fascinating form of art will be rediscovered by generations to come.

The Dada Movement

After World War I, a new artistic movement emerged which rebelled against every school of art to date. According to legend, a group of young Europeans stuck a butter knife into a French-German dictionary and Dada was born. Many young poets, artists, and musicians reacted to the horrors of the Great War by creating "art" which contained no logic or congruity whatsoever. Their purpose was to spite all traditionalist beliefs and snobbery of upper class society. The main headquarters of the Dada movement was the Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich where members from France, Germany, and Romania congregated in the neutral country. Tristan Tzara, Jean Arp, and Hugo Ball among others coined such terms as "noise music", "nonsense poetry", and "automatic drawing" during Dada's main thrust between 1915 and 1922. In their attempt to enrage the bourgeois art establishment, Dada artists almost encouraged violent uprisings against every aspect of modern society. Ironically, upper class began to take a liking to the irrational art of the Dada school. A typical Dada work of art was an ordinary object taken from its original context and put on exhibit as "art". Dada artists used the collage method putting several unrelated objects together to make seemingly absurd works. Dada became an international movement by the end of World War I. It seems in their attempt to defy society and prudence, Dada artists almost conveyed a certain sense of irrational logic by the wild and unnatural works they created. At the time, everyone thought the movement would be a temporary fad with no long-term impact; however, even though Dada faded out in the early 20s, it directly set the stage for Surrealists to continue their madcap style.












	*History of Surrealism* Surrealism was (and is) an art movement that combined everyday forms and objects that are seen by most people with strange atmospheres, and creates a total bizarre image for the viewer. This movement's history is closely linked with that of Abstractionism. After World War I, Tristan Tzara, in beginning the Dada movement (see below), sought to attack traditional art by create art of ugliness. Unfortunately for him, the industrially wealthy population that he sought to offend accepted and embraced this movement. Surrealism came into this time, as World War I ended and life went back to relative normality. Led by French author Andre Breton, this movement was unlike Abstractionism, which also came out of the Dada movement, in that it did not abandon the "craft" that had been passed down throughout Europe's history. Artists of this movement created very unrealistic and seemingly random pictures of the subconscious, but they painted things, to speak plainly, generally how they actually look, just not in the place or situation that these things would normally be in. This movement of the subconscious was heavily influenced by the works of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. Though the surrealist movement was declared dead in 1941, and is now in history textbooks as history, it still survives in some circles to this day. As abstractionism became the predominant form of art in the middle years of the 20th century, modern surrealist artists are rarely recognized by critics or in galleries. Perhaps in the future this fascinating form of art will be rediscovered by generations to come. *The Dada Movement* After World War I, a new artistic movement emerged which rebelled against every school of art to date. According to legend, a group of young Europeans stuck a butter knife into a French-German dictionary and Dada was born. Many young poets, artists, and musicians reacted to the horrors of the Great War by creating "art" which contained no logic or congruity whatsoever. Their purpose was to spite all traditionalist beliefs and snobbery of upper class society. The main headquarters of the Dada movement was the Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich where members from France, Germany, and Romania congregated in the neutral country. Tristan Tzara, Jean Arp, and Hugo Ball among others coined such terms as "noise music", "nonsense poetry", and "automatic drawing" during Dada's main thrust between 1915 and 1922. In their attempt to enrage the bourgeois art establishment, Dada artists almost encouraged violent uprisings against every aspect of modern society. Ironically, upper class began to take a liking to the irrational art of the Dada school. A typical Dada work of art was an ordinary object taken from its original context and put on exhibit as "art". Dada artists used the collage method putting several unrelated objects together to make seemingly absurd works. Dada became an international movement by the end of World War I. It seems in their attempt to defy society and prudence, Dada artists almost conveyed a certain sense of irrational logic by the wild and unnatural works they created. At the time, everyone thought the movement would be a temporary fad with no long-term impact; however, even though Dada faded out in the early 20s, it directly set the stage for Surrealists to continue their madcap style.
	Artists - Intro - Credits - Works Cited