Surrealism; What it was about and its impact

Surrealism was a cultural movement that set about in the early 1920s and is best known for its writings and visual artworks. The word ‘surrealist’ was coined by Guillaume Apollinaire. It first appeared and took shape in the preface to his play Les Mamelles de Tirésias, which was written in 1903 and was first performed in 1917.

The movement was aimed to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind since psychoanalysis was from where it was influenced. The Surrealists regarded rationalism and literary realism with disdain. They believed the rational mind repressed the power of the imagination, overburdening it with taboos. The goal was to “resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality”. The Artists painted demoralizing and illogical scenes with photographic precision, created strange creatures from everyday objects, and developed painting techniques that allowed the unconscious to express itself.

Surrealism developed mainly out of the Dada activities during World War I. In addition to being against war, Dada had political affinities with the radical left and was also anti-bourgeois. The most important anchor location of the movement was Paris. Since the 1920s, the movement spread internationally, eventually affecting the visual arts, film, literature, and music of several countries and languages, as well as political thought and practice, social theory, and philosophy.