Surrealism

Surrealism was a 20th century avant-garde art movement. Its aim was to release the thoughts of the unconscious mind.

Two well known surrealist artist i want to look at in this report are:

Salvador Dali

And Max Ernst

Both men were inspired by Sigmund Freud's dream theory, Freudian theory. Freud used the analogy of an iceberg to describe the three levels of the mind.

On the surface is consciousness, which consists of thoughts and actions focused on now (this is seen as the tip of the iceberg) 

The preconscious consists of all which can be retrieved from memory.

The third is the unconscious. He believed this part of the mind was responsible for most of our behaviour (Like an iceberg, the most important part of the mind is the part you cannot see).

He thought this part of the mind acted like a ‘cauldron’ of primitive wishes and impulses kept at bay or where we repressed thoughts, memories or information to painful or frightening for us to know.

Sigmund Freud thought the unconscious mind was of great importance, basically, Freudian theory is idea that the unconscious mind is responsible for certain behavior's we expressed to a greater degree than people suspect, and how these express themselves in our dreams, which are our unconscious thoughts. 

Artists have used dreams, visions and there inner thought as a source for creating their work long before surrealism, yes, but not the use of the minds psychology as an artistic inspiration. 

Salvador Dali, ”Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening” (1944),

Salvador Dali considered dreams and imagination as a central, he searched for a way to stay in his creative state for as long as he possibly could, i liked this thought, as i enjoy, on the rare days when i get to sleep in, to stay in bed semi- awake so i can stay in my dream longer. 

The painting above, depicts a woman (Dalí's wife, Gala) sleeping on rocks floating over the sea, An elephant with long, thin legs carrying an stone pillar. Near the woman there is a small pomegranate. To the left there is a larger pomegranate and a fish coming out of that, and a tiger coming from the fish and another tiger coming from that !.

 In front of that second tiger a rifle's bayonet nearly touching the woman's arm. COMPLETE MADNESS!

I think the two tigers represent the body of a bee (yellow with black stripes?) and the bayonet its stinger of the bee, responsible for the woman's abrupt awakening from her peaceful dream, represented by the calm waters.

I really like this paintings i think it is a good representation of how the subconscious mind can create work. 

Another element of how Sigmund Freud's theory inspired surrealism is the concept of automatic mark making. The idea of doodling or scribbling... the loosening of control of conscious thought and letting the unconscious mind create. Despite giving free rein to the unconscious mind, the artists who “practiced” automatic painting were actually quite careful and selective in the use of shapes and the object.

Max Ernst was one of the first artists to apply Freud's theory to investigate his deep psyche and explore the source of his own creativity. Ernst attempted to freely paint from his inner psyche. Doing so unleashed his primal emotions and revealed his personal traumas, which then became the subject of his collages and paintings. This desire to paint from the sub-conscious, and automatic painting was central to his Surrealist work.

 Max Ernst, Celebes, 1921, Oil paint on canvas

The titles comes from a German rhyme  ‘The elephant from Celebes has sticky, yellow bottom grease’. In this painting i see a sinister mechanical monster, that looks like the elephant, and a headless female figure. It also reminds me of work i have seen in Dada artists. 

The creature has a frilly metallic collar, and a horned head and tail.The headless woman is wearing surgical gloves i am not sure why. Most of the sky is empty, apart from two fish 'flying', is this under water?, i don't know... 

Ernst wrote, 'On the 1st of August 1914 Max Ernst died. He was resurrected on the 11 November 1918 as a young man who aspired to find the myths of his time.' 

Dose 'Celebes' represent the myth of destruction?

Again i don't know, if it was automatic painting, then maybe it is just that, fragments of a subconscious mind that we are desperate to understand. 

I think surrealism is a very important art movement and i personally love it. I find a big connection with it and i cant wait to explore it further.