surrealism

• repurposing 

• subversion 

• nontraditional

• uncanny

• non sequitir

• illogical

Starting from what my project proposal was, I came up with these words which are the ones that thrilled me the most.

As far as I want to distance my project from whatever is traditional, rational and logical I ended up finding out an art movement which is mainly focused on this kind of principles.

SURREALISM

It is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for its visual artworks and writings.
Surrealism developed out from Dada activities during the World War I and its the main centre was Paris. From the 1920s onward, the movement spread around the globe, eventually affecting the visual art, literature, film and music of many countries and languages, as well as political thought and practice, philosophy and social theory.
Leader André Breton was explicit in his assertion that Surrealism was above all a revolutionary movement based on the theory of Sigmud Freud and Karl Marx.

The parallelism between REALISM and SURREALISM is very helpful to understand the main feature of this movement.
REALISM is intended by the surrealists as the fetishism of logical procedures, which are in fact incapable of solving the authentic problems of existence. It is something that could be rightfully or wrongfully which accuse of being a superstition, a chimera any means of searching for truth that does not confirm with standard usage.
With SURREALISM instead "imagination might would be about regain its rights".

André Breton and
his own definition of SURREALISM

Importance of DREAMS is focal within this movement as a much wider scope than the dominant tradition to investigate uncosciousness and imagination.
Imagination is intended as the only way to dominate and enchante reality.
Reason, esthetic and moral concerns can only stifle authentic thoughts and confine them to too narrow framework.
Dreams create a kind of PHANTOM REALITY which is another main topic of surrealism, widely investigated by one of the most important surrealist painters, Salvador Dalì.

Dream caused by the flight of a bumble bee, Salvador Dalì, 1944, Oil on canvas

The dream, Salvador Dalì, 1937, Oil on canvas

Woman with a head of roses, Salvador Dalì, 1935, Oil on canvas

Another topic really important is the use of ORDINARY OBJECTS in an UNUSUAL CONTEXT (which is a typical attitude of a mind free from any rational control and traditional pattern.), as well as the parallelism between REALITY and ILLUSION

The apple, René Magritte, 1964, Oil on canvas

Philosophy In The Boudoir, Renè Magritte, 1947

The castle in the Pyrenees, Renè Magritte, 1959

Euclidean promenades, Renè Magritte, 1955

Mae West face, Salvador Dalì, 1935

"Everything we see hides another thing, we always want to see what is hidden by what we see. There is an interest in that which is hidden and which the visible does not show us. This interest can take the form of a quite intense feeling, a sort of conflict, one might say, between the visible that is hidden and the visible that is present."

Renè Magritte