Surrealism

Surrealism emerged in 1920s Paris as artists explored the unconscious mind, dreams, and irrational thought. Founded by André Breton, the movement drew heavily from Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theories. Salvador Dalí's melting clocks, René Magritte's impossible images, and Max Ernst's strange landscapes became icons of the style.

Surrealists used techniques designed to bypass rational thought: automatic drawing, dream journals, and the "exquisite corpse" game where artists collaborated without seeing each other's work. Dalí called his approach the "paranoiac-critical method," deliberately inducing hallucinatory states. Joan Miró developed biomorphic forms that seemed to float between abstraction and representation.

The movement attracted writers, filmmakers, and photographers alongside painters. Frida Kahlo incorporated surrealist elements into deeply personal self-portraits. Surrealist art continues to influence advertising, film, and contemporary art. Major collections exist at the MoMA, Tate Modern, and the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres, Spain.