Surreality

Surrealism is an artistic movement which was officially defined by André Breton in his Manifesto of Surrealism. The 20th century was the century of dreams, mysticism and fantasies. The period was characterized by Freudian investigations of mind and the rapid development of the machinery. In the waiting of the greatest technological breakthroughs, there was a need to slow down and think about the power of the human spirit and the eternal world of fantasies, the elimination of boundaries between dream and reality. In his Manifesto of Surrealism, André Breton wrote: ‘I believe in the future resolution of these two states, dream and reality, which are seemingly so contradictory, into a kind of absolute reality, a surreality’.

The decade of the 1930s is thought as a Golden Age of Surrealism, with the works of that period commanding the highest prices nowadays. The premier division of the Surrealist artists comprises of René Magritte, Salvador Dalí and Max Ernst; Joan Miró and Pablo Picasso, who also went through the Surrealist stages in their works. Other artists of the Golden Age of Surrealism are Yves Tanguy, Paul Delvaux, Man Ray, Victor Brauner, Leonora Carrington, and Dorothea Tanning.

René Magritte (1898–1967)

The Son of Man; 1946; Source: renemagritte.org. Night in Pisa (La nuit de Pise); 1958; Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Lovers II; 1928. Source: renemagritte.org.

Not to be Reproduced; 1937; Source: renemagritte.org. Man in a Bowlet Hat; 1964; Source: renemagritte.org. Time Transfixed; 1938; Source: www.renemagritte.org.

Salvador Dalí (1904–1989)

Persistence of Memory; 1931. Source: dalipaintings.com. Swans Reflecting Elephants; 1937; Source: dalipaintings.com; The Temptation of Saint Anthony; 1946; Source: dalipaintings.com.

Elephants; 1948; Source: dalipaintings.com. The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory; 1954; Source: dalipaintings.com. Geopoliticus Child Watching the Birth of the New Man; 1943; Source: dalipaintings.com.

Max Ernst (1891–1976)

Gala Éluard; 1924; Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Triumph of Surrealism; 1973; Source: max-ernst.com. Woman, Old Man and Flower; 1923; Source: max-ernst.com.

Ubu Imperator; 1923; Source: max-ernst.com. The Elephant Celebes; 1921; Source: max-ernst.com. The Barbarians; 1937; Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)

The Face; 1926; Source: pablo-ruiz-picasso.net. The Three Dancers; 1925; Source: pablo-ruiz-picasso.net; Woman in an Armchair; 1927; Source: pablo-ruiz-picasso.net.

Nude on a Beach; 1929; Source: pablo-ruiz-picasso.net. The Kiss; 1929; Source: pablo-ruiz-picasso.net; Figures on a Beach; 1931; Source: pablo-ruiz-picasso.net.

Joan Miró (1893–1983)

L’Oiseau Encerniant d’or Etincelant La pensée du Poete; 1951; Source: The Collector. Figure, Dog, Birds; 1946; Source: ThoughtCo. Peinture (L’Air); 1938; Source: The Collector.

Peinture (Etoile Blue); 1927; Source: The Collector. Femme et Oiseaux; 1940; Source: The Collector. Constellation Awakening at Dawn; 1941; Source: The Collector.

Yves Tanguy (1900–1955)

The Satin Tuning Fork; 1940; Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. My Life, White and Black; 1944; Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Hostages; 1934; Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Mirage of Time; 1954; Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. From Green to White; 1954; Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Marveilles des Mers; 1936; Source: Artnet.

Paul Delvaux (1897–1994)

The Awakening of the Forest; 1939; Source: Arthur. The Great Sirens; 1947; Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Sleeping Venus; 1944; Source: Tate.

Large Skeletons; ca. 1944; Source: Arthur. The Man in the Street; 1940; Source: Arthur. Street of Trams; 1938–39; Source: Arthur.

Man Ray (1890–1976)

Jazz; 1919. Observatory Time: The Lovers; 1932–1934. La Fortune; 1932–1934. Source: WikiArt.

Diderot’s Harpsichord or The Merchant of Venice; 1948. Shakespearean Equation Twelfth Night; 1948. As You Like It; 1948. Source: WikiArt.

Victor Brauner (1903–1966)

Painted from Nature; 1937. The Surrealist; 1947. Composition with Portrait; 1930–1935. Source: WikiArt.

Masques; 1961. Espace de L’Esprit; 1961. Courteous Passivity; 1929–1935. Source: WikiArt.

Leonora Carrington (1917–2011)

Portrait of Max Ernst; 1939. Green Tea; 1942. Neighbourly Advice; 1947. Source: WikiArt.

The Lovers; 1987. Around Wall Street or Portrait of Pablo in NY; 1973. Adieu Ammenotep; 1960. Source: WikiArt.

Dorothea Tanning (1910–2012)

Voltagem; 1942. Birthday; 1942. Maternity; 1946–47. Source: WikiArt.

On Time Off Time; 1948. The Truth About Comets; 1945. Endgame; 1944. Source: WikiArt.