Surrealism

Surrealism is an art movement that explores the subconscious mind by mixing dreamlike elements with reality. It was founded and defined by French writer and poet André Breton in his book “Manifesto of Surrealism” (1924).

Surrealists believed rationality caused World War I, so they reacted by embracing imagination and irrationality instead.

It was influenced by Sigmund Freud’s theories in “The Interpretation of Dreams” (1899) and grew out of Dadaism.

Artists like Max Ernst moved from Dada’s anti-art chaos to a more constructive, exploration-focused Surrealism.

In music, Surrealism rejects logical structures by using juxtaposition (putting unrelated sounds together), improvisation, and collage (rearranging sounds).

By the mid-1900s, it had heavily influenced global commercial design and film. Salvador Dali’s “Christ of Saint John of the Cross (1951) is one of the most prominent works of this time.

Today, it continues through digital tools, as seen in the music video for “FOOL'S GOLD” by Aries (2021).