Surrealism

Résumé · SURREALISM was the twentieth century's longest lasting revolution in the arts. From the 1920s to the 1960s and beyond, it explored the mysterious dreamworld of the unconscious mind. Inspired by the new field of psychoanalysis, artists such as René Magritte, Salvador Dalí and Max Ernst painted illogical scenes with unnerving precision, built strange creatures from everyday objects and developed techniques of 'automatic' drawing that circumvented conscious thought. Surrealist pictures depict a familiar yet alien world of dreamlike serenity and nightmarish fantasy, and their legacy continues to pervade much of contemporary art, literature, film and popular culture. This comprehensive survey presents a definitive and up-to-date survey of one of the best-loved movements in modern art.