How to Appreciate Surrealists

When you think of surrealist painters, you might think of Salvador Dali. Surrealism was an art movement that started in Paris just before World War II. It was a movement that tried to use dreams and unconscious images to create art. In order to appreciate surrealists, you must understand the themes they worked with. Here are some of those themes.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Look for dream-like images. Surrealism came at a time when Sigmund Freud was very popular. Like Freud, they believed that the mind's ability to reason shuts down a deeper kind of thought called unconscious. The unconscious is most active when you're reasoning mind is asleep. That is why surrealist images appeared dreamlike. The challenge was to make their art appear both real and bizarre, just like dreams.
2. Look for spiritual symbols, not religious ones. Surrealists of the time began to think that religion only had a place in ancient and classical art. On the other hand, the spirit was the essence of the unconscious. Therefore elements of spirituality appear in surrealist art.
3. Look for symbols of socialism. Surrealism began just before World War II. Between the falling social class structures of the time and the popularity of Karl Marx, artists in the surrealist movement were involved in the French socialist party.
4. Look for sexuality. At the time, sexuality was not tolerated in art. Before the surrealist movement, nudity found in art was considered natural or beautiful. In general, sexual nudity was not appropriate. Possibly through studying Freud's papers, which indicated that human sexual desires lived in the unconscious, the surrealist movement accepted sexuality as appropriate.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't expect to find these themes in paintings by Salvador Dali. Although Dali considered himself a surrealist from the beginning of his career until the end, many in the surrealist movement thought Dali was too extreme. His use of sexuality was too erotic. Also Dali rejected socialism and instead was fascinated with Hitler. Symbols of Hitler began to appear in his art. As a result, he was officially "kicked out" of the surrealist movement. Later in his career, Dali began to focus on religion as a subject for his surrealist work.

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