1. Surrealism
The art of the Dream

2. The Surrealists sought to channel the unconscious as a means to unlock the power of the imagination. Disdaining rationalism and literary realism, and powerfully influenced by psychoanalysis, the Surrealists believed the rational mind repressed the power of the imagination, weighting it down with taboos. Influenced also by Karl Marx, they hoped that the psyche had the power to reveal the contradictions in the everyday world and spur on revolution. Their emphasis on the power of personal imagination puts them in the tradition of Romanticism, but unlike their forebears, they believed that revelations could be found on the street and in everyday life. The Surrealist impulse to tap the unconscious mind, and their interests in myth and primitivism, went on to shape many later movements, and the style remains influential to this today.

4. Salvador Dali
The Persistence of Memory, oil on canvas, by Salvador Dalí, ; in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York City.

5. Rene Magritte
The Son of Man, oil on canvas by Rene Magritte, 1964

6. Dreams

7. Vocabulary Surrealism: Super real, beyond reality.
Levitation: Rising, floating
Juxtaposition: The act of positioning close together (or side by side) and comparing them.
Proportion: A principle of art that describes the size, location or amount of one element to another (or to the whole) in a work.
Conscious: Knowing and perceiving. When you’re fully aware when doing stuff.
Scale: Refers to the proportion or ratio that defines the size relationships. Models, architectural plans, maps and paintings/drawings all use scale to create the illusion of correct size relationships between objects and figures.
Unconscious: Not conscious. Un-aware of surroundings. Holds your thought and feelings.
Transparency: The physical property of allowing the transmission of light through a material;
Transformation: The act of changing in form or shape or appearance. Turning something familiar to unusual or strange.
Repetition: Repetition is created when objects, shapes, space, light, direction, lines etc. are repeated in artwork. An element that occurs over and over again in a composition.
Dislocation: A displacement of a part (especially a bone) from its Normal position.
Metamorphosis: When someone or something changes completely in form or state.
When did the cultural movement of SURREALISM start? Early s
Characteristics of Surrealism
-World of dreams, memories and feelings -Laws of nature are reversed -Comes from the unconscious

8. Your assignment
Create a surreal image using a hand as the anchoring thought.
The composition must fill the paper and you may use colored pencil or just regular pencil.
It should demonstrate use of the Art elements line, value, and space.
It should demonstrate use of the Art principles Emphasis and Proportion.
It should show evidence of planning.
It should be neat, clean, and complete by Monday, February 12th.
It should be posted to Artsonia and have a written artist’s statement/critique describing, analyzing, interpreting, and judging it for the viewer. Should include vocabulary words…

9. Student Examples