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  WHAT IS ART ? Art is something we do, a verb. Art is an expression of our thoughts, emotions, intuitions, and desires, but it is even more personal than that: it’s about sharing the way we experience the world, which for many is an extension of personality. It is the communication of intimate concepts that cannot be faithfully portrayed by words alone. And because words alone are not enough, we must find some other vehicle to carry our intent. But the content that we instill on or in our chosen media is not in itself the art. Art is to be found in how the media is used, the way in which the content is expressed. Art’ is where we make meaning beyond language.  Because what art expresses and evokes is in part ineffable , we find it difficult to define and delineate it. It is known through the experience of the audience as well as the intention and expression of the artist. The meaning is made by all the participants, and so can never be fully known. It is multifarious and on-g...
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SURREALISM

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Surrealism was the 20th century art movement that explored the hidden depths of the 'unconscious mind'. The Surrealists rejected the rational world as 'it only allows for the consideration of those facts relevant to our experience'. They sought a new kind of reality, a heightened reality that they called 'surreality', which was found in the world of images drawn from their dreams and imagination.


Surrealism was founded in Paris where many of the Dadaists had settled after the Great War. It was originally a literary movement but its unusual imagery was more suited to the visual arts and to those artists who were searching for a more consistent approach to art as an antidote to the chaos of Dada.

  • Surrealism was first defined by André Breton in the Surrealist Manifesto of 1924.
  • Surrealism was greatly influenced by the writings of Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis.
  • Surrealism was the 20th century art movement that sought to liberate creativity from the limitations of rational thought.
  • Surrealism explored the hidden depths of the 'unconscious mind'.
  • The Surrealists saw their historical ancestors in artists like Hieronymus Bosch, Giuseppe Archimboldo, Goya, Henry Fuseli, Gustave Moreau, Odilon Redon and genres such as Folk, Primitive, Ethnic and what we now call 'Outsider Art'.

  • The most immediate influence of Surrealism was the Italian artist, Giorgio de Chirico who developed a style of painting called 'Pittura Metafisica' (Metaphysical Art).
  • Automatism was the first Surrealist technique to be developed and the artworks created through this method are mostly abstract in form.
  • Automatism was pioneered by André Masson and developed by Max Ernst and Joan Miro.
  • The interpretation of dreams was a source of inspiration for many Surrealist artists.
  • Salvador Dali was the master of hallucinatory dreamscapes.
  • Dali's illusionistic realism could subvert your senses and open your mind to the irrational.
  • The juxtaposition of disassociated images was a technique that Max Ernst and René Magritte employed to generate a Surrealist reaction in the mind of the spectator.
  • The main artists associated with what we now call the 'Golden Age' of Surrealism comprise André Masson, Max Ernst, Joan Miro, Salvador Dali and René Magritte.

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