Surrealism was an art movement that developed in the early 1920s during the time between World Wars I and II where artists aimed to merge the complex world of dream and fantasy into daily life to combat the rationality that they believed led Europe into the perilous events of World War I.
They looked to express the true nature of thoughts and the unconscious mind through paintings, sculptures, film, photography, lithography, etching, film and other mediums. Artwork of this movement is usually characterised by dream-like imagery with symbolism and collage work across the many mediums surrealists used.
Surrealism was grown with the influence of Dada, where they adopted its ideas of purposefully defying reason by presenting works that could be considered irrational and outlandish. In contrast, surrealists focussed on positive expression as opposed to Dada’s negative imagery. Some of the most notable artists were Jean Arp and René Magritte with the poet André Breton.
With the paintings, I thoroughly enjoy the way in which the dream-like quality is presented. The colours are bold and still, the way in which the gradients within tone are created still gives it a hazy and floaty feel.
sources: https://www.britannica.com/art/Surrealism
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/s/surrealism
https://www.parkwestgallery.com/what-is-surrealism-art/
Jasmine Cooper 