The World Of Surrealists

The unconscious part of our minds is always trying to tell us something and communicate with our conscious. Surrealists used this ideology and practised techniques of capturing these messages, scenes and visuals and depict it in their artworks. It allows an artist to go beyond his canvas and notions of society into a free world that is completely his own, explore the untouched realm and find inspiration. The oddness and unsettling feeling that surrealist paintings provide is what makes it unique and exciting. It might not make much sense to a viewer or any sense at all at a glance but that is it's purpose, to provoke thinking. This movement was not only about art and had a great impact on culture, art, cinema, politics, literature, etc.

Some of the greatest artists that were involved in the movement were Andre Breton, Salvador Dali, Frida Kahlo, Rene Magritte, Pablo Picasso (also a Cubist artist, Max Ernst, Giorgio de Chirico, etc.

How can one just go about connecting these two parts of their brain, you might think. Well, surrealists used plenty of techniques that allowed them to capture images from moments that bridge them together. Some of those few techniques were collage, automatism, photomontage, games, liquid movements on vertical surface, bulletism, aerography, etc.

Salvador Dali used a nap technique by sitting on a chair and holding a spoon with a plate placed on the floor. After relaxing himself, he would start getting drowsy and then the spoon would slip from his fingers and fall on the plate. At this exact moment he could capture images or scenes that he would be having midway. (the bridge I talked about) This technique helped him to slip into the unconsciousness for a while and get the inspiration he needed which would then be used in his paintings! How strange, isn't it? ;)