Paradoxical Games (Surrealism 100)

Abstract

The beginning of the 20th century was marked by an extraordinary pace of change in Western European art movements collectively referred to as "Modernism” (French Moderne-most recent). Modernist movements rapidly alternated with each other and often existed concurrently. Some painters were associated with different modernist movements throughout their careers. The rebellious spirit and radicalism of young artists, their struggle for creative freedom caused a clash with the official, academic and salon art of the time. From then on, peculiarities of subjective perception gained special importance in the realm of art.  In the assessment of creativity, a significant emphasis was placed on the artist's ability to create the original embodiment of his idea and individual vision.

Surrealism with its strong and distinct program is one of the most significant movements of the 20th century. It encompassed fine arts, literature, cinematography, and theater during the period between the two World Wars. To some extent, Surrealism shared aesthetic foundations with Dadaism, from which it inherited anarchic rebellious spirit directed against outdated cultural conventions, ways of thinking and logic. Surrealism (French Surrealisme) is a movement which defies the role of reason in art and considers the subconscious to be the primary wellspring of creative inspiration. The Surrealist worldview was based on various doctrines of philosophical idealism spread in post-war Europe. Henry Bergson’s philosophy of intuitionism and Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis played a special role in shaping underpinnings of the movement. 

During the fall of Dadaism, the French poet and psychiatrist Andre Breton (1896-1966) began his creative career. He worked in a neurological hospital and applied Freud’s methods while giving medical treatment to soldiers during the World War I. In 1924 A. Breton published the first Surrealism manifesto. He tried to explore the most essential human qualities — forbidden sexual desires, mysterious fantasies and violent instincts. To overcome the constraints, the Surrealists developed a strategy for liberating the subconscious through dream analysis, free associations, automatic writing, verbal games, and hypnotic trances. According to the Surrealist aesthetics, the truth of existence is hidden in the depths of the subconscious and the aim of art is to liberate and express it spontaneously. Like Freud, the Surrealists believed that hidden ideas, desires, memories repressed by the mind surface in dreams from the human subconscious and reveal themselves in the form of “Unconscious complexes”. The artists distanced themselves from conscious creativity, which was an effective means of recording uncontrolled processes and images occurring in their own selves.