Surrealism
Chronicle of a Death Foretold
What is it, really?
• Surrealism- a cultural movement that
began in the early-1920s, and is best
known for the visual artworks and writings
of the group members.
• The works feature the element of surprise,
unexpected juxtapositions and non
sequitor.
Andre Breton was one of the
leaders of the surrealists, a
talented poet and theorist.
Andre Breton was a French writer
who believed that surrealism
encompassed Automatic Writing
• Pure psychic automatism, by which one
proposes to express, either verbally, in writing,
or by any other manner, the real functioning of
thought.
• Dictation of thought in the absence of all control
exercised by reason, outside of all aesthetic and
moral preoccupation, in other words, automatic
writing.
He also said…
• Surrealism is based on
• the belief in the superior reality of certain
forms of previously neglected
associations,
• in the omnipotence of dream,
• in the disinterested play of thought.
The Treachery of Images (1928-9)
Rene Magritte
Most Famous Surrealist
Salvador Dali
Sweet ‘stache!
The Persistence of Memory
Analysis of the Persistence of
Memory
• His concepts of ‘softness’ and ‘hardness’
• Also, a depiction of Einstein’s theory of
relativity – gravity distorting time
• Hand painted dream photographs
The Little Theater
Analysis of The Little Theater
• 11 painted glass planes layered
• Desolate scenes
Retrospective bust of a woman
What do you see?
• Yes, those are ants climbing up her face.
• The topmost figure is an inkwell depicting
a famous picture called “The Angelus” by
Jean Francois Millet.
• The Angelus is a Catholic prayer practice
of worshipping three times a day. In the
picture, a farmer and his wife pray at the
end of the day over a basket of potatoes.
Dali had opinions about this
painting, which is why he includes it
in
this
piece.
• The Angelus was reproduced frequently in the 19th
and 20th centuries. Dali was fascinated by this
work, and wrote an analysis of it, The Tragic Myth
of The Angelus of Millet. Rather than seeing it as a
work of spiritual peace, Dalí believed it held
messages of repressed sexual aggression. Dalí was
also of the opinion that the two figures were
praying over their buried child, rather than to the
Angelus. Dalí was so insistent on this fact that
eventually an X-ray was done of the canvas,
confirming his suspicions: the painting contains a
painted-over geometric shape strikingly similar to a
coffin. (Néret, 2000) However, it is unclear whether
Millet changed his mind on the meaning of the
painting, or even if the shape actually is a coffin.
American Surrealist- Peter Blume
South of Scranton
Analysis of “South of Scranton”
• South of Scranton gathers various scenes that the artist
encountered during an extended road trip in spring 1930.
• He began in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and then headed south toward
the steel mills of Bethlehem. The industrial machinery, coal piles,
and smoking locomotives at the left side of the painting represent
these locales.
• Next he went to Charleston, South Carolina, where he witnessed
several sailors performing acrobatic exercises aboard the deck of a
German cruiser ship in the harbor.
• The Citadel military academy, located in Charleston, may have
inspired the crenellated yellow towers in the foreground.
• In an account of the painting's origins, the artist stated, "As I tried to
weld my impressions into the picture, they lost all their logical
connections. I moved Scranton into Charleston, and Bethlehem into
Scranton, as people do in a dream. The German sailors appeared to
lose the purpose of exercising and became, in a sense, like birds
soaring through space" (Carnegie Magazine, October 1934).
Again, Surrealism
• Elements of surprise
• Unexpected juxtaposition
• Non-sequitor
How does this definition fit into your
personal definition from the poetry?
What is the difference?
• Both Surrealism and Magic Realism use a mixture of
realism and fantastic elements. The main differences
lay in the content itself. The objective of the Magic
Realist is to bring us fresh presentation of the
everyday world we live in. The artist may choose
unusual points of view, mysterious juxtapositions or
common objects presented in uncanny ways.
However, everything we see is within the realm of the
possible, although sometimes unlikely. Surrealism
takes us to another world, one which is unreal and
exists only in our mind. It presents the impossible,
using both traditional and experimental artistic
techniques, often shocking us.
As we read….
• You will use these definitions to state
whether Chronicle of a Death Foretold is
more a work of Magical Realism or
Surrealism