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Surrealism Facts & Worksheets

Surrealism is a style of art and literature developed principally in the 20th century, stressing the subconscious or nonrational significance of imagery arrived at by automatism or the exploitation of chance effects, unexpected juxtapositions, etc.

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Surrealism is a style of art and literature developed principally in the 20th century, stressing the subconscious or nonrational significance of imagery arrived at by automatism or the exploitation of chance effects, unexpected juxtapositions, etc.

See the fact file below for more information on the Surrealism or alternatively, you can download our 21-page Surrealism worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

HISTORY OF SURREALISM

  • The term surréalisme (surrealist) was originated by French avant-garde Guillaume Apollinaire in a play written in 1903 and performed in 1917.
  • André Breton published his Surrealist Manifesto (1924) and defined surrealism as: ‘pure psychic automatism, by which one proposes to express, either verbally, in writing, or by any other manner, the real functioning of thought. Dictation of thought in the absence of all control exercised by reason, outside of all aesthetic and moral preoccupation.’
  • Heavily influenced by Sigmund Freud, Breton saw the unconscious as the wellspring of the imagination. He defined the art that unlocked ideas and images from their unconscious minds that could be attained by poets and painters.

TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES OF SURREALISTS

  • Visual artists, poets, playwrights, composers, and film-makers found ways to free the psyche and tap into hidden reservoirs of creativity.
  • Surrealists used techniques to evoke psychic responses, such as frottage (rubbing with graphite over wood or other grained substances) and grattage (scraping the canvas).
  • Other features of surrealistic art includes:
    • Dream-like scenes and symbolic images
    • Unexpected, illogical juxtapositions
    • Bizarre assemblages of ordinary objects
    • Automatism and a spirit of spontaneity
    • Games and techniques to create random effects
    • Personal iconography
    • Visual puns
    • Distorted figures and biomorphic shapes
    • Uninhibited sexuality and taboo subjects
    • Primitive or child-like designs
    • Source: https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-surrealism-183312

SOME SURREALIST PAINTERS

  • Well-known surrealist painters were Jean Arp, Max Ernst, André Masson, René Magritte, Yves Tanguy, Salvador Dalí, Paul Delvaux, and Joan Miró. (see pictures from left to right)
  • Arp is known for his Abstraction-Création (pure abstraction in art), while Masson, who experimented on weakening his motion control, is famous for his automatic drawing.
  • Magritte is known for his realistic renderings of hallucinatory scenes, disturbing juxtapositions, and visual puns, while Tanguy focused on hallucinatory geological formations inspired by his travels in the Africas.
  • Dali’s dream world depicts commonplace objects transformed into juxtaposed and deformed images, while Delvaux shows illusionary scenes of semi-nude women sleepwalking through classical ruins.
  • Miro is popular for his brightly colored, biomorphic shapes that seemed to bubble up from the imagination.

SURREALISM ON OTHER MEDIA

  • Although surrealism is commonly associated with painting, it was originally a literary movement in which poets experimented with automatic writing, or automatism, to free their imaginations.
  • Known surrealist poets include Paul Éluard, Philippe Soupault, Louis Aragon, and Pierre Reverdy, who used the unconscious thought process to come up with surrealist literature.
  • An excerpt of Éluard’s Mourir de ne pas Mourir (Dying Of Not Dying, 1924) reads:
    • To live, only advance!
    • Aim straight for those you love
    • I went towards you, endlessly towards the light
    • If you smile, it is to enfold me all the better
    • The rays of your arms pierce the mist
  • Surrealism in photography was popularized by Man Ray, who specialized in Rayographs – exposing photographic paper to light with objects placed on it.
  • French photographer Maurice Tabard is noted for his use of double exposure and solarization in service of geometry.
  • German photographer Hans Bellmer is known for his handmade, life-sized female dolls as photographic subjects.
  • Dora Maar took portraits of her fellow surrealists, such as Pablo Picasso.
  • The Seashell and the Clergyman (1928) was the first surrealist film directed by Germaine Dulac.
  • Un Chien Andalou (1929) was the most famous surrealist film directed by Luis Buñuel. In collaboration with Salvador Dalí, it featured an image of a woman’s eyeball being sliced by a razor blade.
  • Famous American filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock also created a surrealist dream sequence in the 1945 film Spellbound.

SURREALISM IN THE MODERN ERA

  • Surrealism officially ended in 1966 but helped birth another art movement – Abstract Expressionism.
  • Although Salvador Dali’s surrealist paintings are widely recognized and acclaimed, the most expensive surrealist painting ever sold was an abstract work by Joan Miró. The painting sold for $36.9 million at a London auction.
  • In the mid-1940s, surrealist Salvador Dali and Walt Disney collaborated on an animated film titled Destino.
  • Surrealism received criticism mostly from feminists, who claiming that the movement adopted archaic attitudes toward women, such as worshiping them symbolically through stereotypes and sexist norms.
  • Contemporary surrealists include Julie Curtiss, Mary Reid Kelley, Penny Slinger, and Chen Zhou.

Surrealism Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about the surrealism across 21 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Surrealism worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about the surrealism which is a style of art and literature developed principally in the 20th century, stressing the subconscious or nonrational significance of imagery arrived at by automatism or the exploitation of chance effects, unexpected juxtapositions, etc.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Surrealism Facts
  • Surrealism Watch
  • Automatic Surrealism
  • Veristic Surrealism
  • Surrealistic Interpretation
  • Surrealistic Ad
  • Stories Told
  • From Words to Pictures
  • Fashion and Surrealism
  • Fashion Levels
  • Surrealism in Photography

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Use With Any Curriculum

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