Surrealism - Exalting The Unconscious

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By Kathleen Karlsen

The Surrealists looked to the art of children, the art of the insane and primitive art for inspiration in preference to art produced in a careful and labored way. The untrained and self-taught artists were prized. The two major types of Surrealism that emerged over time were abstract and veristic. Abstract Surrealism, exemplified by Joan Miro (1893-1983) and André Masson, utilized organic scribbles and curvilinear images with biomorphic qualities. Miro's work, such as The Farm (1921-22) was particularly marked by vitality, high color, flat patterns and animal forms. Veristic Surrealism, on the other hand, achieved an other-worldliness through a highly refined technique.

Another factor which separated the art of the second half of this century from that of the Renaissance painters and 19th century realists was the modern profusion of visual stimulation and information conveyed via the mass media as well as the mass production of goods. The noise of the city rather than the silence of nature became the backdrop of modern life. The endless reproduction of photos, prints and films destroyed the uniqueness of images and created increased competition for art of all types.

One of the foremost masters of veristic surrealism was Salvador Dali (b. 1904). Dali's quest to depict a superior reality included the use of traditional subjects such as figures and landscapes. However, he created a disruption of normality through exaggeration and the juxtaposition of disparate images. Expanses of cloudless skies and peculiar transformations of familiar objects were hallmarks of Dali's work. The eerie painting The Persistence of Memory (1931) is one of Dali's the best-known pieces exemplifying this approach. This shift from pure representational art to a quest to express feelings continues to be a fundamental difference between the traditional art of realism and the concerns of modernism.

Kathleen Karlsen, MA is a professional artist, a freelance writer and design consultant residing in Bozeman, Montana. Her unique artwork and gifts for flower lovers can be found at http://www.livingartsoriginals.com For an illustrated article on flower symbolism, see http://www.livingartsoriginals.com/infoflowersymbolism.htm More about flower meanings are at http://www.livingartsoriginals.com/infoflowermeaning.htm

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