Ever since the beginning of humanity, art has been a part of our culture that has evolved with us. From prehistoric Venus figurines to digital art, art and humans have come a long way together.
Over this time, people have developed plenty of art styles and movements. This Artland magazine article mentions the most famous ones, like expressionism, cubism, and surrealism.
Today, we’re going to talk about the latter style. Bored Panda's interviewee, Jay from "Surrealism Today," said that surrealism technically has two definitions. First, it's an art movement, started by Andre Breton, that seeks to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind. Second, it's "a genre of art that focuses on the realistic portrayal of the impossible and the imaginary."
Tate describes surrealism’s aim as a way to challenge imposed human experience and values by finding beauty in the unexpected, uncanny, disregarded, and unconventional.
Our interviewee, Jay, also said that this art genre is based on the four fundamental principles that have revolutionized 20th-century art. First, automatism — "the direct expression of unconscious thought without rational control. Artists bypass conscious filtering to access raw psychological material, like automatic writing or spontaneous drawing."
Then, there's paradoxical juxtaposition, which is the deliberate combination of unrelated elements to create new meaning. The third is psychological exploration through Freudian concepts — "surrealists dive deep into dreams, memories, and primal desires, transforming personal and collective unconscious material into symbolic imagery and metaphor."
Lastly is liberation from rationality, which means that art aims to free the human mind from constraints, merging dream and reality into a new kind of experience — surreality. These principles are essentially what define surrealism and make it what it is.
Salvador Dali is one of the most well-known and influential surrealist artists to have ever lived. He created both precise and unusual images that challenged the conventional reality and were thought-provoking.
Just think of his famous painting The Persistence of Memory, one of the most recognizable works of the whole art movement. It encompasses both reality and fantasy — the distant golden cliffs symbolize the coast of Catalonia, where Dalí was born.
At the same time, the main attention is focused on the melting clocks in the middle of the painting, which is far from reality. The clocks signify the fleeting nature of moments, the temporariness of time, and the elasticity of our experiences.
Jay from "Surrealism Today" noted that these clocks are a perfect example of paradoxical juxtaposition, one of the fundamental principles that surrealism is based on, which we discussed earlier.
Beside Dali, there are plenty of other famous artists who have made amazing works of surrealism. For example, René Magritte, who painted The Son of Man, Leonora Carrington and her Ulu's Pants, and Max Ernst and his The Barbarians.
There are also those who are not as widely known, but who (even today) create equally stunning works of art. Since it could be said that social media is kind of a digital art gallery, a lot of artists can be found online, on sites like Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, or more artist-focused platforms like Behance.
Today's list is also full of contemporary surrealist creations. The pictures were collected and shared by Instagram page @surrealism.world, which currently has over 500K followers.
In their bio, it is written that they’re “the world's largest community for surreal art lovers.” Whether that’s true or not, it’s surely great that fans of this art movement have a place online to enjoy and discuss pieces by various surrealists. Additionally, it could serve as a source of discovery for those seeking mesmerizing art — maybe even for someone like you.
Do you like surrealist art? What is your favorite piece? Please share them with us in the comments!
Also, be sure tp check out our interviewee Jay's educational website "Surrealism Today" and its YouTube channel!
