The work can be viewed as the basics of the surrealist movement. The book revolves around the major ideas of a new literary school and outlines its central features. It explained the ideals of creativity peculiar to the new age. In his work, Breton talks about disillusionment and dissatisfaction with the over-rationalized nature of society, which emerged soon after WWI and caused a significant impact on numerous processes. The author argues that rationalism has a pernicious impact on society, making it an extremely boring place (Breton, 1969). For this reason, it is necessary to alter it to ensure new trends emerge and shapes people’s mentalities. Otherwise, there is a high risk of creativity decline and new works’ inability to meet people’s needs.
The work is closely related to the surrealist historical movement as it defines and explains the central peculiarities. Breton defines it as “psychic automatism in its pure state, by which one proposes to express…the actual functioning of the thought… in the absence of any control exercised by reason” (Breton, 1969, p. 25). In such a way, he proclaims the change of the existing tradition and the switch to new forms. The work is fundamental for the development of the surrealist movement. It can be viewed as its manifest helping other writers of the epoch to join a new trend and become familiar with new ideas. It also impacted Breton’s position and his role in becoming one of the most influential surrealist writers creating works within the given field.
Nadja (1928)
This is an outstanding work of surrealist fiction written by Andre Breton. The novel describes the relationship between the narrator, Andre Breton, and a woman named Nadja for a period of ten days (Breton, 1994). The work does not have traditional chapter breaks, as the author wants to step aside from the realistic tradition. Instead, the narrative is split into two parts by a single blank page (Breton, 1994). The first one describes Breton’s views on life and ways to understand a person by analyzing what he/she “haunts” (Breton, 1994, p. 33). The second one outlines occasional meetings with Nadja, which helps to explain the critical role of coincidences.
The novel is an essential step toward the development of the surrealist tradition. First, it does not follow traditional patterns of realism. Instead, it follows the manifest created by the writer previously and expresses his thoughts and ideas. The plot is organized to create the basis for discussing the major Breton’s views and attitudes, while Nadja shows the role of random meetings. It is typical of the surrealist movement with its focus on the unusual nature of the world and the necessity to reconsider it.
Mad Love (L’Amour fou) (1937)
The work can be defined as a unique case study devoted to the problem of love. Following the ideas of surrealism, Brenton delves into the given theme and its reflection in his poetry. He links it to relationships with women, specifically artist Jacqueline Lamba, and other objects surrounding him (Breton, 1988). At the same time, he also speaks about the future, his hopes, and his relations with the infant daughter (Breton, 1988). In such a way, Brenton investigates the concept of love in a unique literary manner.
The work can also be viewed as a contribution to the development of surrealism and its leading ideas and concepts. Brenton avoids realistic and structured cogitations about unique feelings. He also does not use traditional stylistic devices to show his inspiration and admiration. Instead, Breton offers logic and sometimes passionate thoughts about how people love, suppress social obstacles, and create better places through their relations (Breton, 1988). In such a way, following his thoughts, he expresses feelings and emotions vital to him.
Communicating Vessels (1932)
This is a work by Andre Brenton published in 1932. It is written regarding the surrealist tradition as it touches upon the problems of thoughts and thinking. The author discusses the problems of everyday life, experience, and intellect (Breton, 1997). The whole novel is based on a scientific experiment also called Communicating the Vessels (Breton, 1997). The gas moves from one side to another, which is viewed as the central idea of the surrealist thought by Brenton (Breton, 1997). This comparison helps to explain his vision of creativity and thought.
At the same time, the importance of the work for the surrealist movement is linked to the basics of existence and the role of thought in literature. Brenton states that being “removed from the contingencies of time and place” is how individuals understand their real nature and current position (Breton, 1997, p. 12). In such a way, the ideas offered in his work correlated with the manifesto offered by the writer and the whole movement. It also helps to understand the nature of creativity through the surrealist lens.
What Is Surrealism? (1934)
This is another essential work of Andre Brenton. Initially, a lecture given in Brussels in 1934 was later published. The author explains the critical importance of the movement for the development of literature and human thought. He assumes that “surrealist activity remained strictly confined to its first theoretical premise” (Breton, 1978, p. 78). It implied the ideas of non-conformism and the necessity to step away from outdated ideas and traditions. In such a way, surrealism became a fresh air vital for society after WWI.
At the same time, the importance of the work for the movement is explained by the emphasis on the need to continue to evolve. Brenton says that it is impossible to stop the development of a particular phenomenon; otherwise, it will collapse. In such a way, surrealism should evolve and focus on meeting the demands of new generations. The work is essential for linking reality with the movement and explaining its basics to the broader audience, which is vital for its enhanced understanding.
References
Breton, A. (1969). Manifestoes of surrealism (R. Seaver & H. Lane, Trans.). Univeristy of Michigan Press.
Breton, A. (1978). What is surrealism?: Selected writings (F. Rosemont, S. Beckett, D. Gascoyne, S. Schwartz, J. Simmons, B. Imbs, G. Ducornet, J. Ashberry, R. Manheim, Trans.). Pathfinder Press.
Breton, A. (1988). Mad love (M. A. Caws, Trans.). Bison Books.
Breton, A. (1994). Nadja (R. Howard, Trans.). Grove Press.
Breton, A. (1997). Communicating vessels (M. A. Caws & G. T. Harris, Trans.). University of Nebraska Press.
Polizzotto, M. (2017). Revolution of the mind: The life of Andre Breton. Black Widow Press.
The beginning of the twentieth century was marked by major tumultuous changes. World War 1 and the Russian Revolution greatly influenced how people understood the world.
The findings of Freud and Einsten, as well as the technological innovations of the Machine Age, registered distinctively new ‘modernist’ modes of feeling and perception. In cultural terms, more transformed human awareness was progressed by the publication of books that defined the modernist sensibility. The early twentieth century art movements effectively depict this new mind-set.
One of these is the cultural movement called Surrealism. The French poet, Andre Breton, initiated it in 1924. This art and literary movement grew in Europe between The First World War and the Second World War. Surrealism sprang out of the previous Dada movement. It was a way of life that most artists tried to escape their disparities by adopting the Sigmund Freud theories.
The Beginnings and growth of Surrealism
Dadaism developed nearly at the same time in Zurich, New York, and Paris during the First World War. It further made appearance in Germany before concentrating in France.
It flourished from 1966 to 1922. With the aim of ridiculing what its adherents regarded to be the worthlessness of the modern world, it promoted anti-war and anti-art works (De la Croix and Tansey, 705). Many people joined the movement since they disputed the bourgeois nationalist and colonialist interests. This is because many of them believed they were the major causes of the First World War.
Therefore, the Dadaists conveyed their denunciation of the ideology using artistic expressions. These expressions appeared to reject the reason and logic of bourgeois capitalist society, which resulted in the First World War. In general, the Dadaists embraced chaos and irrationality.
The movement of Dada was anti-art since anything for which art stood, it depicted as opposite (“Dada and Surrealism, para.1). This was an attempt by the Dadaists to purify art by mocking it. This made the proponents of this movement to develop pieces that were very playful and teasing.
For example, Marcel Duchamp developed a popular portrait of the Mona Lisa having a mustache. Nearly every Dada piece arouses a reaction, which was the intended objective since the movement hoped to annihilate all the traditional elements of culture and aesthetics. Despite existing for a short time, Dadaism left an enduring legacy to contemporary art, advertising and the social order, and if it were not present, it is unlikely that Surrealism and other modern art movements would have existed.
Surrealism is largely considered as an outgrowth of the earlier Dada movement, but its ideas are better organized and more relevant to the real world (Klingsohr-Leroy and Grosenick, 7). Andre Breton, the founder of Surrealism, was trained in medicine and psychiatry.
During the First World War, he employed his skills in a neurological hospital where he helped soldiers who were suffering from a condition referred to as combat stress reaction or battle fatigue. In the hospital, he found Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic methods to be vey helpful in treating the soldiers. When the war ended, Breton moved back to Paris where he joined the Dada movement. While he was in France, together with his two friends, Louis Aragon and Philippe Soupault, he founded the literary journal called
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Thereafter, based on Sigmund Freud’s theories that the unconscious was a wellspring of imagination, they started by experimenting with automatic writing in which they spontaneously noted down their thoughts without censoring them. They then published the writings in the journal together with some accounts of dreams.
Breton and Soupault continued their investigations on surrealist automatism and published The Magnetic Fields in 1919, which is considered by most people to be the first truly surrealist text. As they delved deeper into automatism, more and more people embraced surrealist principles since they considered them better approaches for transforming the society than Dada attack on prevailing values.
The surrealist philosophers and artists felt that Dadaism did not allow categories and labels. The proponents of surrealism perceived that ordinary and depictive expressions are essential in liberating the imagination. However, they upheld the idea that the sense of that arrangement ought to be in full arrangement according to the Hegelian dialectric and the Marxist dialectric.
The surrealists adapted the thoughts of Sigmund Freud to suit their own purposes (“Historical Origins of Surrealist, para. 7). They considered Freud’s ideas as the accidental rediscovery of the power of dreams and imagination, which had been hidden for a long time under the purely rational outlook that was common during the early twentieth century.
The surrealists predicted that as the artists would develop perspectives that would give them the strength of freeing themselves from the control of reason, a new intellectual tendency will inevitably come up.
Freud had attempted to define and illustrate the subconscious mind as a genuine phenomenon that controlled thought and behavior; therefore, the surrealists translated this understanding into an artistic and literary methodology that was based on the subconscious and the imagination. They believed that these had been repressed by rationalism, civilization, and progress.
In 1924, the Surrealist movement was officially founded when Breton published the first “Surrealist Manifesto” which defined its intentions (“Surrealism,” para.1).
The document defined Surrealism as “psychic automatism in its pure state by which we propose to express- verbally, in writing, or in any other manner- the real process of thought. The dictation of thought, in the absence of any control exercised by reason and outside any aesthetic or moral concerns” (Leslie, 59). This implies that surrealists advocated for nonconformity, which was not as excessive as that of the Dadaists.
This is because when Dada was existing, it was considered as an art. The document gives many instances in which Surrealist thoughts can be applied to poetry and literature. However, it emphasizes that Surrealist principles are relevant in any circumstance of life. This implies that they are not limited to the artistic realm.
The text outlines the vital role that the earlier Dada movement played in the Development of Surrealism (Hopkins, 17). The manifesto highlights the essence of the dream as a reservoir of Surrealist inspiration and details the experiences of Breton with the surreal in a famous description of a hypnagogic state whereby a strange phrase mysteriously came into his view.
The text, which was written with a great deal of absurdist humor, has references to several precursors of Surrealism that represented the Surrealist spirit before the declaration of the manifesto and the works of other Surrealists, who participated in the development of the Surrealist style, are also included.
The manifesto concludes by affirming that the activities of the movement do not follow any plan or conventional pattern. Besides Breton, other renowned Surrealists, who acknowledged that they are ultimately nonconformists, signed the manifesto.
After officially launching the movement, Breton and his team published the foundational issue of a journal called La Revolution surrealist (Andrews, 60). Thereafter, publications for the journal, which was considered constantly scandalous and revolutionary, continued up to 1929.
The Surrealists also established the Bureau of Surrealist Research in Paris where they could play collaborative drawing games, discuss the principles of Surrealism, and develop different skills such as automatic drawing. The second Surrealist Manifesto, supervised by Breton, was issued to the public in 1930. The proclamation included anti-idealist principles, which led to the development of hybrid Surrealism. This made the surrealists to reveal the base instincts of humans.
Breton was ruling the Surrealist movement like a dictator. He firmly observed the theories of surrealism. His strong stand made many people to be expelled from the group while others simply defected. One of these is Salvador Dali who was ‘excommunicated’ in 1937 since Breton thought that his theories were misguided. Nonetheless, the other Surrealists, such as Paul Eluard and Robert Desnos, continued publishing their principles until the start of the Second World War.
Even though most Surrealists were poets, others attempted prose writing, for example, Breton successfully published a novel called Nagja. Surrealism had a great influence in the early twentieth century. It motivated related movements in areas such as painting, sculpture, movie production, and performance of plays. More so, it has a lasting influence on the field of creative arts as a whole.
The emerging of groups from surrealism
The Surrealists eventually divided into two groups: the Automatists and the Veristic Surrealists. Ortolano explains that the “Automatists were only interested in the artistic expression but oblivious to finding meaning to it, that is, they considered the abstract expression to be more important than analyzing it” (27). Their motto was “No meaning, just expression.” As implied in the earlier sections of this paper, Automatists followed Breton’s form of Surrealistic art.
On the other hand, Veristic Surrealists differed from Automatists by defining the unconscious as psychiatrist Carl Jung visualized it; therefore, they endeavored to communicate deeper thoughts by analyzing the metaphoric importance of the work of art and its relationship with the universal unconscious. Veristic Surrealists held the belief that Surrealism could best express the unconscious when the images of the dreams are captured in an art form and later decoded through analysis.
The universal expression of the unconscious was according to Jung’s position who maintained that every person has an inherent knowledge and comprehension of images that are usually universal in nature and are portrayed in most literature and art.
Two Opposing Approaches to Art
The theories of Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso are the two conflicting art theories that define the direction that art should take in this century. Dali had excellent painterly skills and in the early 1930s, he developed the Paranoic-critical method in the production of paintings and artworks.
This technique requires an artist to let the images to arrive at the conscience. Thereafter, the artist is required to freeze them on a canvas so as to give consciousness ample time for grasping their full meaning. After sometime, he brought in other aspects and called the technique the Oniric – Critical Method.
In this case, the artist is required to concentrate on his dreams, freeze them through art, and simultaneously evaluate them (“History of Surrealism,” para. 15).On the other hand, through embracing the scandal and chaos of Dadaism and the position of the Automatists, Picasso took a different approach to art. He refused to acknowledge the ability to become ‘primitive.’
Since even in his early years he exhibited a mysterious talent in art, he decided that the ingenuity of childhood should form the foundation of art and artists should paint as children, that is, become less preoccupied with the craft. However, Dali was for the idea of upholding the inquisitiveness and enthusiasm of a kid all through the life of a person, not just painting as a kid.
The struggle of Surrealism and its current status
Veristic Surrealists assert that one should learn from the mystery of nature. On the other hand, Automatists maintain that one should never become conscious of the mystery of nature. The approach to art that was promoted by Picasso is acceptable by almost everyone. However, few people have embraced the approach that was promoted by Dali.
Currently, Veristic Surrealism aim to seek for freedom and the change of man’s consciousness through visual arts, literature, film, and music. From the beginning of Surrealism, renowned men have struggled with the perennial questioning of philosophy, the investigation of psychology, and the spirit of mysticism with the aim of enabling us consciously develop our full human potential.
Even though surrealism encountered difficulties during the late 20th century and was slowly substituted by the artistic philosophy of modernism, it is still evident today. Surrealist examples exist in modern art and film in an attempt to regain its once major cultural force.
For example, Miyazaki’s 2005 film Howl’s Moving Castle uses aspects of Surrealism to depict the condition of the early twentieth century English towns. Several children in primary grades are instructed on self-portraiture techniques based particularly on the portraits by Picasso, and in literature, magical realism in works by writers such as Gabriel Marquez contain aspects of surrealism.
Future of Surrealism
The advent of modernism has made many people to reject Surrealist principles. However, although it has existed in silent seclusion for about a half a century, its evolution will bring a new form of art that will be appealing to everybody. As professional interest in it will be aroused, the world will again experience the aesthetic pleasures on art.
Surrealism is essential in helping us to understand the architecture of the psyche and those who have dedicated their time to analyzing the images of the subconscious can have the opportunity of educating the world on the workings of the spiritual, psychological, and the physical planes of human existence.
Conclusion
Surrealism as a cultural movement of visual arts and writings borrowed some of its tenets from the earlier Dada movement. Most of the Surrealist artists had great imagination and the works of the earlier philosophers such as Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung influenced their Surrealistic thoughts. The publication of the Surrealist Manifesto in 1924 served as a turning point for the movement since the declaration enabled it to gain official status.
As Surrealism advanced, two groups of Automatists and Veristic Surrealists emerged from it. Although they have been in silent seclusion for sometime now, their resurgence in the future will ensure that they once again have a dialogue with the public in expressing the workings of the subconscious.
Works Cited
Andrews, Wayne. The Surrealist parade. New York, N.Y.: New Directions, 1990. Print.
“Dada and Surrealism.” The artchive, n.d. Web.
De la Croix, Horst, and Richard Tansey. Art Through the Ages. Atlanta: Harcourt, Brace, & World, 1970. Print.
“Historical Origins of Surrealist.” Lithgallery, n.d. Web.
The events of the 20th century have created a platform for the rapid development of various artistic styles and approaches. One of the most notorious branches of art was the Dada movement and the spreading of Surrealism. The purpose of this essay is to figure out the historical context of Dada formation as well as to dwell upon the main idea behind Surrealism art.
The first half of the 20th century was a tough challenge for the world community. World War I left people in frustration and despair, and one of the few ways to escape harsh reality was to create a personal, imaginary world where the thought of common people was heard and accepted. One of these escapes found its realization in the Dada movement – a means of expressing outrage and disillusionment (Arnason and Mansfield).
Being sick of war, its representatives, through the forms of art, poetry, or sculpture, tried to re-invent art and the overall concept of the world hierarchy. Among the most famous then artists were German-French painter and sculptor Hans Arp, American painter Marcel Duchamp, and French painter Francis Picabia.
Another artistic movement of the 20th century, which is worth mentioning, is Surrealism. Unlike Dada, its primary purpose was not to express the personal views on a certain social situation but to open the artist’s true talent through subconsciousness. On a famous Salvador Dali’s painting, called Soft Construction with Boiled Beans: Premonitions of the Civil War, one can see the depiction of a monster creature that destructs himself.
The title is very symbolic as the notion of civil war is nothing but a country’s self-destruction. I have chosen this painting because the depiction of this idea is surprisingly precise, and this painting has become a kind of cautionary note for Spanish people. The disastrous effects of events happening in the real world described through the image of a monster make a recipient feel uncomfortable and give the people some food for thoughts.
To sum up, the new branches of art that appeared in the 20th century are a point of major interest for many art critics and researchers. Developing during the era of ongoing world conflicts, various creators tried to convey their feelings of uncertainty, loss, and fear through the works of art. For them, it was the only way to be heard in society deafened by gunshots.
Work Cited
Arnason, Harvard H., and Elizabeth C. Mansfield. History of Modern Art, 6th Edition. Pearson, 2009.
Surrealism is a 20th Century movement of artists and writers who used fantastic images, as well as incongruous juxtapositions to represent unconscious thoughts (Singh, 2011). The main focus of this movement that was founded in France was to resolve a number of preceding paradoxical conditions associated with fictional realism. The members believed in the power of imagination, thus the reason they created several strange-looking images and pictures as a way of expressing their thoughts. The members who started this interest group were highly influenced by famous theorists such as Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, Walter Benjamin, and Herbert Marcuse (Durozoi & Anderson, 2002).
The artistic influences of the movement came from renowned artists such as Pablo Picasso, Francis Picabia, Marcel Duchamp, and Giorgio de Chirico (Lusty, 2007). The philosophical concepts developed by the theorists played a crucial role in influencing the thought process of surrealist members, which had an orientation towards bringing a revolution.
Another element that influenced the development of this movement was Dadaism (Mical, 2005). This was a nihilistic art movement that flourished in Europe during the early 20th Century. The movement, which focused a lot on paintings, was based on irrationality and negation of the accepted laws of beauty. The movement has managed to spread across various parts of the world, with its most notable influences being on the development of literature, languages, film, and music (Mical, 2005). The surrealism movement has influenced numerous social theories and political systems used in various parts across the world (Lusty, 2007). The main reason for choosing this movement was to understand its history, worldwide influence, and key ideas developed by the members.
Historical response
The movement has a very deep historical background. A number of writers and artists in the movement worked in Paris (Singh, 2011). However, following the breakout of World War I, most of them separated and moved away from each other due to the instability that developed. Most of the artists and writers were against the war, as they believed that the conflict was caused by people who belonged to the property-owning class that exploited the working class (Aspley, 2010).
This influenced most of them to engage in the activities of the Dada movement. The movement engaged in protests through writings and paintings that condemned the war (Mical, 2005). Soon after the war ended, members of the movement went back to Paris, where they continued with their activities. One of the characteristic features of this movement was their anti-social attitude and contempt rejection of traditional artistic culture (Lusty, 2007).
With time, the movement continued to grow and have more members who introduced various elements about writing and artistic work. The group developed a philosophy towards a culture of automatism being the best strategy for influencing change in the society. This led to the development of the surrealism movement in 1922 (Singh, 2011). Members believed in the need to promote ordinary and depictive imaginations through artistic expressions. Some of the major artists in the movement included Georges Limbour, Max Ernst, Man Ray, Jacques Baron, Max Morise, Rene Magritte, and Jacques Prevert, among others (Lusty, 2007).
The surrealism movement had a manifesto that was used to record the intentions and rules guiding the association between members. The motivation for coming up with a manifesto was to fight a rival group that had emerged, claiming the ownership of the group’s name (Lusty, 2007). The two factions started a literary battle in order to find a winner. The group led by Breton won because of their tactics and high numbers. This victory marked a dark moment for the group as some members resigned, and others got excommunicated from engaging in its activities (Lusty, 2007). The manifesto of the group had citations of the different projects submitted by members, the definition of the movement, as well as the purpose that members intended to fulfill through their activities.
Members often held their meetings in cafes. Their meetings involved a number of activities such as drawing competitions, developing artistic techniques, and deliberating on various theories that influenced their philosophy (Singh, 2011).
The mission of the movement was to generate a completely new attitude towards the ability to form mental images of things and events. The movement is still relevant today, as many contemporary artists and writers continue their adherence to the philosophy they promoted. The activities of the surrealism movement were very crucial in influencing future artists in various ways. One of the artists that were influenced by the movement was Joseph Cornell (Mical, 2005). The American was a renowned artist and sculptor, who pioneered the concept of assemblage in the artwork.
Critical analysis
There are a number of works of art that define the surrealism movement. Some of the common works developed by artists in the surrealism movement include the lobster telephone and metamorphosis of narcissus by Salvador Dali, as well as Celebes by Max Ernst (Aspley, 2010).
Lobster Telephone
Image 1: Lobster Telephone created by Salvador Dali in 1936.
This classic surrealist artwork was created by Salvador Dali in 1936 (Aspley, 2010). The Spanish artist was well known for his artistic skills and drawing prowess. One of his famous works that preceded the lobster telephone was the Persistence of Memory, which was a canvas painting he had completed in 1931 (Durozoi & Anderson, 2002). His personality that was characterized by attention-seeking actions and grandiose behavior influenced most of the imaginations expressed in his works.
The object was collected by Tate and purchased in 1981 (Aspley, 2010). This artwork was made using a combination of various materials that normally could not be linked together in developing an artistic piece. The materials included steel, plaster, rubber, resin, and paper. The dimensions of this artwork were 178 x 330 x 178 mm (Mical, 2005). The resulting artwork was described by his fellow artists as a mischievous and ominous object. Dali argued that at the time when he was designing this artwork, telephones and scorpions had an erotic implication on him (Aspley, 2010).
These connotations had developed from one of his earlier artworks called The Dream of Venus, which had been showcased at the 1939 global art fair in New York. In the fair, artists were required to use live models dressed in costumes that were made of materials from sea animals (Durozoi & Anderson, 2002).
The model used to develop the lobster telephone was highly influenced by Dali’s correlation between sex and food. In this artwork, Dali placed the crustacean tail that had covered the private parts of the female models, over the mouthpiece (Durozoi & Anderson, 2002). The unique design of this artwork was a trending topic across the world and made Dali a household name. At the time, he received an invite from the American Weekly periodical to draw his artistic impression of New York City. His drawings were very impressive. People described him as the man who discovered a phone in a lobster (Durozoi & Anderson, 2002).
In response, Dali gave some interesting responses that made people realize the philosophy promoted by surrealism artists. One of the responses given by Dali questioned why hotels still serve lobsters instead of cooked phones (Durozoi & Anderson, 2002). He believed that the world should buy into his imaginations and believe that every time they are served with a grilled lobster, they are eating a telephone. The lobster telephone was not a new thing. Research has established that there were many versions of the telephone that had been created by other artists.
I believe that the creativity used to develop the lobster telephone is very commendable. However, it must be one of Dali’s most satirical creations to date, as people from various parts across the world still express their amusement with the artwork. In addition, the stylish design of the artwork was personal, and people learned a few things about his philosophy (Durozoi & Anderson, 2002). The different designs that Dali had created of this artwork were effective in portraying his dynamism and creative nature.
This was a clear manifestation of the philosophy shared among surrealism artists who believed that the world could be changed through expression of imaginary thoughts. The lobster telephone was displayed in several museums across the world (Durozoi & Anderson, 2002). The lobster telephone has been very influential in the development of art, as most art students use it as a reference point when learning about the history of art.
Conclusion
Surrealism movement was founded in the 20th Century by a group of artists and writers based in Paris, France. The movement developed out of Dadaism. Some of the people who influenced the philosophy of the surrealism movement included Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, Walter Benjamin, and Herbert Marcuse. The group did not focus on writing alone, as they also did a lot of artistic work that had influences from renowned artists such as Pablo Picasso, Francis Picabia, Marcel Duchamp, and Giorgio de Chirico.
The surrealism movement has influenced numerous social theories and political systems across the world. The group developed a philosophy towards a culture of automatism being the best strategy for influencing change in the society. Major artists that were part of the surrealism movement included Georges Limbour, Max Ernst, Man Ray, Jacques Baron, Max Morise, Rene Magritte, and Jacques Prevert. One of the artists that were influenced by the movement was Joseph Cornell.
A number of artworks defined the philosophy of the surrealism movement. The model used to develop the lobster telephone was highly influenced by Dali’s correlation between sex and food. Although the lobster telephone from Dali was not a new invention, it showed a lot of creativity and a strong desire by artists to express their imaginations. The surrealism movement is still relevant in the contemporary world, as most artists still consider their deep history as a motivating factor to the work they do in terms of influencing their creativity. The work done by the artists has a lot of aesthetic worth, as it helps to showcase the beautiful aspects of the world.
References
Aspley, K. (2010). Historical Dictionary of Surrealism. California: Scarecrow Press.
Durozoi, G., & Anderson, A. (2002). History of the Surrealist Movement. Michigan: University of Chicago Press.
Lusty, N. (2007). Surrealism, Feminism, Psychoanalysis. New York: Ashgate Publishing Ltd.
Mical, T. (2005). Surrealism and Architecture. New York: Psychology Press.
Singh, S.K. (2011). Surrealist movement. Greener Journal of Art and Humanities, 1(1), 21-22.
Annotated Bibliography
Aspley, K. (2010). Historical Dictionary of Surrealism. California: Scarecrow Press.
This book focuses on explaining various elements that constituted the manifesto of the surrealism movement. According to the author, the surrealism movement was very widespread and had many people who adhered to its philosophy. Andre Breton was a strong leader who managed to keep the group together for a long time. The book explains the various changes that happened within the group and their effects with regard to the development of art. This is a very resourceful book for anyone interested in learning about the history of the surrealism movement.
Durozoi, G., & Anderson, A. (2002). History of the Surrealist Movement. Michigan: University of Chicago Press.
One of the authors of this book is a veteran philosopher and a long critic of artwork in his native France. This book was very resourceful in understanding the philosophy of the surrealism movement. In addition, the author discusses a number of artists that belonged to the surrealism movement. Some of the artists mentioned in the book along with some of their artwork include Paul Eluard, Salvador Dali, Rene Magritte, and Max Ernst. The author also gives a detailed history of art in the 20th century by discussing the main factors that influenced the growth of the discipline at the time. I would recommend this book to any person interested in learning the history of art as influenced by the surrealism movement.
Lusty, N. (2007). Surrealism, Feminism, Psychoanalysis. New York: Ashgate Publishing Ltd.
This book focuses on the manner in which activities of the surrealism movement influenced the concept of aesthetic value. The author makes reference to two female surrealist artists, namely Leonora Carrington and Claude Cahun. Since the philosophy of the surrealist movement used a lot of concepts developed by theorists such as Freud, the author dedicated much of the literature to explain the development of feminism. The book makes a lot of reference to events and factors that contributed to the history of the surrealism movement. This book was very resourceful in getting a clear understanding of the manner in which activities of the surrealism movement influenced the development of various concepts across the world.
Mical, T. (2005). Surrealism and Architecture. New York: Psychology Press.
This book focuses on the history of surrealism and its impact on contemporary architecture. The author examines the way members of the surrealism movement developed their philosophy. In addition, he examines the reasons as to why architecture was ignored when the surrealist artist were developing their artwork. The contemporary architectural designs have a lot of influence from the philosophy of the surrealism movement. In the book, the author combines a number of essays that discuss the role of expressing one imaginations with regard to the aesthetic and social elements of artwork that influence modern architecture. This book was very resourceful in terms of enhancing my understanding of the choices of artists, writers, and architects in the contemporary world as a result of influences by the surrealism movement.
Singh, S.K. (2011). Surrealist movement. Greener Journal of Art and Humanities, 1(1), 21-22.
This article is very resourceful with regard to this project. The author focuses much of the literature towards explaining the origin of the movement, its development, as well as its positive and negative influences. According to the author, surrealist movement represents the source of the contemporary social and psychological concepts that explain the importance of the subconscious part of the brain. In addition, the article discusses the elements of the surrealist manifesto and the leadership of Andre Breton. This article was also resourceful in helping me understand the influences that theorists such as Freud had on the philosophy promoted by members of the surrealism movement. According to the author, the surrealism movement has had great influence on the development of literatures across the world.
At the beginning of the 20th century Freud’s Interpretation of Dreams with his view on human consciousness was published. His discoveries and the book itself became very popular. Naturally, the fact of a new age in science influenced the art of the time, which got a new stream – surrealism. Surrealism can certainly be considered as the most intellectual and provocative movement in the art (Brenner, 1997). Thus the works of literature can be analyzed from the point of view of the actions of the main characters made in the condition similar with the one when the person sleeps. The whole level of our consciousness is closed until the organism falls in the arms of Morpheus.
As I can see, the father of this movement was Andre Breton with his “The Manifesto of Surrealism ”, in which he provided a great number of specific terms. Among them the definition of Surrealism is also used as a depiction of the out-of-conscious reality. His poem “Free Union” can be understood as the most impressive and direct in the world of poetry.
We can say the same about the most prominent master of depiction of the surrealistic world, Gabriel Garcia Marques. He followed this movement inventing new methods of describing surrealism. So, the definition of Magical Realism appeared which we can observe in his short story “Death Constant beyond Love”. To the story of love for money and power he introduces the theme of Latin American. Marquez investigates the real life of Latin Americans through Magical Reality.
Let us pay attention to the tendency of artistic effort free from conscious control, which Breton meant as an indispensable element of Surrealism. The suggestion that by entering into the condition of trance or dream-like state the artist’s unconscious is revealed in a pure and unfiltered fashion simply appears naive today. That the “spontaneous” products Breton and his colleagues turned out took the form of highly-evolved poetic images, inconceivable without an extensive knowledge of literary technique and history, might have offered a hint that the states they entered into were hardly free of conscious suggestion (Brenner, 1997).
I am in two minds about this fact. Judging by the prominent usage of stylistic means in “Death Constant beyond Love”, we could hardly speak about the unconscious writing of this story. The name of the story itself seems to be thought over in detail. Death is the only constant thing in human lives. Even passionate real love can not save you from a powerful embrace of death. We see the story of Senator Sanchez, who got used to get everything he wanted. His passionate love to a young village girl makes him mad, concerning the fact of his coming death.
The title is obsessed with his feelings for Laura Farina but this is not the way out from his selfish life. Author indirectly shows us how rich and powerful people are lonely and unhappy indeed. They think that money can solve all the problems of their lives including the problem of loneliness. Such people pay a kind of price for their wealth. Sometimes the price is too high; and then the rich are ready to act in a very unpredictable manner in order to get rid of the sense of loneliness or some other feeling that disturbs them.
All the Senator intended to tempt that girl, all his self-confidence and force turned to be an illusion, a means of getting benefit, a weapon in the arms of a simple peasant. On the verge of meeting Death face to face, Senator Sanchez realizes what is really valuable in this life. He wants someone to be close to him, wants Laura to lie near, and wants to feel the warmth of human real relations and at the same time he thinks about lost time. The whole story transmits the tension of the moment.
How can we understand it? What exactly makes us think about the tragic end? If we try to analyze the details of this short story we will see, how the author managed to create this tension by using stylistic coloring. The names of villages and islands (Devil’s Island, Rosal del Virrey) give to the whole story unreal and ominous shade. In our consciousness it displays the impression of sorrow and makes us feel uncomfortable. The scene of a dying man who wants to carry out his cherished dream make us think about sense of life. I do not think, that everything here was written by chance. Only deep analysis of each fact and choosing the right form can give us such an impression.
Comparing this short-story with the poem by Andre Breton “Free Union” we can see an absolute contrast in the manner of presentation. The way he describes his wife gives us an impression of real love and respect. His means of showing that are the great number of epithets and constant repetition of the word-combination “my wife”.
Andre’s feelings to her we can imagine through psychic fixation, which he often uses in his works. We concentrate on the appearance of this woman, on her image. Reading that poem we try to imagine those “eyes full of tears with her eyes of violet armor and a speedometer needle” and understand the color and the deepness of her “savannah eye’s”, their caring and curing effect on the author which like “eyes of water to drink in prison“(Breton, 1993).It seems like stream of unconsciousness, but is it natural?
“To compare two objects as far distant as possible one from the other,” Breton insisted, “or, by any other method, to confront them in a brusque and striking manner, remains the highest task to which poetry can ever aspire” (Breton, 1990). The only thing I can assert is that writers managed to influence our unconsciousness, but their aim was to show their surreal gift.
The years between 1901 and 2000 provide enough evidence of the Surrealists’ artwork. The contradicting conditions between dreaming and reality are the rationale behind the introduction of surrealism. According to Anirudh (2017), the surrealism movement involved literature and visual arts that made headlines between World War I and two. Surrealists initiated a philosophical and artistic movement that examined the workings of the mind throughout the 20th century. Artists hoped to change people’s lives by striking a balance between a rational understanding of life and one that recognized the unconscious and the power of dreams. To physically show their imaginations, many surrealists now use automatic drawing or writing. In the past, artists used mysticism, ancient cultures, and indigenous art knowledge to connect with their minds. This essay will discuss surrealism, the agenda behind Surrealists’ movements, and how cultures and dreams can be interpreted through artwork.
The agenda with Surrealists was to promote mind emancipation as well as artistic expression liberation. Artists intended to show that what a person thinks or what is in the mind can be pulled out through art. Different types of art such as bizarre have been remarkably successful in promoting artwork by trying to express different mind states. Surrealists attempted to tap into the unconscious mindset to reflect the creative potential. Experts who despised rationalism and literary realism and were heavily influenced by psychoanalysis believed that the rational mind stifled the power of the imagination by imposing taboos. The Surrealists’ desire to tap into the unconscious mind, as well as their interests in myth and primitivism, influenced many subsequent surrealism movement groups and styles existing today.
The timing of Surrealists’ artwork was efficient because it related to what was happening throughout the century. Max Ernst (1923) used an imbalanced armor figure to show how authority could be overthrown anytime. Ernst’s art was timely because the government at that time was fighting colonization and independence, therefore exposed to security instability. The Persistence of Memory art by Salvador Dali (1931) reveals the soft and hard sides of life. At the time of publishing, Dali showed the need to assess and utilize time wisely as things could rapidly turn around. Surrealism is important today because it allows individuals to do things they haven’t been able to achieve since its inception (Omerovic, 2021). Surrealism was a literary, intellectual, and artistic movement that sought a revolution against the restrictions of the logical mind and was influenced by the writings of psychologists.
In conclusion, surrealism sought to transform human experience by rejecting a rational view of reality in favor of one that emphasized the importance of the unconscious and dreams. Surrealists discovered the beauty in the unexpected and the uncanny, the rejected and the unconventional mindsets. Surrealism activists aimed to capture the unconscious state of mind to reflect in paintings. Artists who were influenced by psychoanalysis and detested rationality and literary realism believed that the logical mind limited the power of the imagination by establishing cultural taboos. Surrealism has been one of the most influential and subversive movements of the twentieth century, flourishing in the 1920s and 1930s, while offering room for improvements. Surrealism aimed to gain access to the subconscious mind and convert the stream of thought into art. The art industry has a variety of specializations in which artists chose and major professions, surrealism is one among the specializations.
References
Anirudh (2017). 10 most famous surrealist paintings. Learnodo-newtonic. Web.
Dali, S. (1931). The persistence of memory. Learnodo-newtonic. Web.
Salvador Dali is a key figure in surrealist movement creating innovative approaches to art and artistic techniques. The unfitness and significance of this artist is that Dali made a great contribution to painting, sculpture, graphic and design, created new methods and techniques, new vision of reality and the world. The most popular self portrays are: “Self-portrait” by teenage Dalí (1921), Self-portrait in the Studio (1921), Self Portrait with L’Humanite and Cubist Self Portrait with La Publicitat (1923), Self –Portrait with with Raphaelesque Neck (1921-1922) (see Appendix). His self-portraits can be seen as a unique part of his heritage reflecting ideas of personal self and self-identity, perception of the world and his genius.
The uniqueness and remarkable feature of his self-portraits is that Dali portrays himself in different images and through different lens underlining his unique personality and complex nature. From the historical point of view, the early 20th century was a period of tumultuous change1. The First World War and the Russian Revolution profoundly altered people’s understanding of their worlds. The discoveries of Freud and Einstein, and the technological innovations of the Machine Age, radically transformed human awareness. Dalí’s flamboyant showmanship, emblematized by his famous upturned moustache, is notorious, but the Dalí phenomenon warrants further attention precisely because students of modernism find the artist’s self-promotion so galling. Dalí posed difficulties for the Surrealists themselves2.
The main feature of self-portraits is dream life themes and images used as a background of his works. For instance, in Self-portrait” by teenage Dalí flouted all the ideological protocols of Surrealism; as the 1930s progressed, he advocated both monarchist and Fascist sentiments. He also cultivated an innate fondness for kitsch, developing a fascination for the more excessive flourishes of Art Nouveau. His garish, showily accomplished, paintings were designed from the outset to be anti-aesthetic. His new style is akin to the self-searching, truth-revealing mode of Surrealism’s first phase3. To distinguish his own technique the artist draws a fine line between its lack of logical control, which smacks of catharsis or a spontaneous outpouring, and its having plenty of poetic logic, which is deemed to be the crucial divergence from Surrealism proper.
The last two distinctions are vital. In the first place, emphasis upon concreteness and plasticity is precisely what we find in Dali who described his paranoia-critical method. In addition to this obvious capacity to épater le bourgeois, excrement has a conceptual significance in Dalí that underpins one of his trademark images: namely, the soft texture he attributes to a range of solid objects. Softness, in one sense, connects with putrefaction, as Dalí affirms: “In the acceptance of scatology, of defecation and death, there is a spiritual energy that I exploit with great consistency”4. Self Portrait with L’Humanite and Cubist Self Portrait with La Publicitat differ from other works based on dream like background and themes. Like other of his works, these self-portraits can be described them as ‘instantaneous color photography done by hand of the superfine, extravagant … superpictorial, superplastic, deceptive, hypernormal, feeble images of concrete irrationality”5. Crazy, preposterous, delusional or simulated, Dalí’s parable amounts to a ‘conscious fantasy’ in which all the trappings of metamorphic symbolism — from the multiplication of fish to salvation through suffering — provide the material circumstance or composition by means of which Dalí transforms himself into the Creator and achieves the ultimate transubstantiation of the created work6.
In all self-portraits, shame arouses anxiety which in turn finds expression in obsessive actions. These ‘neurotic ceremonials’, which compare with the modern ‘obsessive compulsive disorder’, consist of small daily rites that ‘have always to be carried out in the same, or in a methodically varied, manner’, if anxiety is to be obviated. It is the ‘special conscientiousness’ in executing the ritual that stamps the ceremonial as a ‘sacred act’, and it was this same conscientiousness, rather than emphasis upon any underlying meaning, that prompted Freud to conclude that there was ‘an essential similarity’ between the neurotic and religious patterns of behavior7. Dalí traces his own capacity to visualize the change of one object into another back to his childhood when he would stare at the stains on his classroom walls and imagine them take on ‘an increasingly precise, detailed and realistic personality’. When he tired of one image it would ‘instantaneously become metamorphosed into “something else” ‘, a process that could ‘go on to infinity’8.
This theme, central to Dalí’s ‘paranoia-critical method’, underpins Cubist Self Portrait where materialist rigor combines with a fervent transcendentalism to create a manic form of mysticism. It also reflects his personal circumstance not only in terms of his religious upbringing but also as regards his artistic bent which brought contact with the likes of Maruja Mallo and artists of the Vallecas school. It is this dimension of his work that distinguishes him from writers for whom Surrealism was at bottom little more than a fashionable literary style. It is also the part of his work that has been most overlooked.
The most striking example of a purposeful deployment of psychical material for such ends is Dalí’s ‘paranoia-critical method’ which has the additional virtue of being cast in a metaphysical framework9. The novelty of Dalí’s approach, lay in the fact that he showed himself to be ‘strong enough to participate in these events [of his unconscious] as actor and spectator simultaneously’. In other words, Dalí was able to treat his neuroses as subject matter while maintaining the critical detachment of an analyst towards a patient. From 1928 on, his canvases typically consist of an array of objects that project and itemize his fetishes, the painter having considered these critically before structuring them into an artistic whole. The objects represent his inner life, their symbolic function having been teased out by self-scrutiny and by Dalí’s deliberate cultivation of his neuroses; but they are painted as objects in a naturalistic vein — with no sign of brushwork — to accentuate their concreteness10.
Critics admit that Dalí’s simulated paranoia integrates the subjective and the objective: ‘The strong sense we have in Dalí of subject—object integration is enhanced by his fondness for compositions that combine humans with objects. His new style is akin to the self-searching, truth-revealing mode of Surrealism’s first phase11. To distinguish his own technique the poet draws a fine line between its lack of logical control, which smacks of catharsis or a spontaneous outpouring, and its having plenty of poetic logic, which is deemed to be the crucial divergence from Surrealism proper. Lack of vertical alignment is as important to the poem’s visual statement as the absence of punctuation and syntax is to its linguistic statement12. Critics admit that its symmetry, or what Dalí in his calls ‘divine hypnosis of the mind’s geometry’, bears directly on Narcissus’s thoughts and relates organically to Dalí’s own personality and artistic principles. Few artists are as self-absorbed as Dalí whose obsessions provide the source material for his entire work.
At a personal level, it is equally plain that the Narcissus complex connects with both homosexuality and masturbation. The statuesque male who seductively displays his rear, and it might be added that Narcissus has turned his back on the heterosexuals behind him. in contrast to many of his woks, Dali does not portray sexual acts or the theme of masturbation in self-portraits. Dali’s attitude to the image hinged on the principle of the meeting of incompatible realties. This in turn says something about the way in which an alternative knowledge-system inevitably springs from ‘local’ rather than ‘universal’ roots. However, the overriding impression is surely one of a compulsive fetishization of the body. This is the moment when the male child unconsciously disavows the mother’s lack of phallus, as evidenced by her apparent ‘castration’. The fetish thus stands in for the missing maternal phallus and symbolically allays the reminder of castration evoked by the sight of female genitalia. The more the fetish object is asserted, via multiplication or displacement onto other fetish objects, the more the threat recedes13.
In sum, Dali’s self-portraits reflect his personality and unique perception of the world through the eyes of the artist himself. Much of the erotic art of Surrealism has a fundamentally symbolic and dream like character. Dream landscapes, populated with strange biomorphic forms established a theoretical justification for Surrealist painting.
Bibliography
Aramaki, Y. Soft Clocks. The Review of Contemporary Fiction, 22, 2002, p. 36. JSTOR Database.
Dali, S. Ades D. (2000). Dali’s Optical Illusions. Yale University Press.
Dali S., Chevalier H. M. The Secret Life of Salvador Dali. Dover Publications; Reprint edition, 1993. Duran, G. The Antipodes of Surrealism: Salvador Dalí and Remedios Varo. Symposium, 42, 1989, 297-310. JSTOR Database.
Conley, K. Surrealism and the Visual Arts: Theory and Reception. French Forum, 31, 2006, p. 166. JSTOR Database.
Descharnes R., Neret G. Dali: The Paintings. Taschen America Llc, 2001.
Mical, Th. Surrealism and Architecture. Routledge, 2004.
Easton, R. Canonical Criminalizations: Homosexuality, Art History, Surrealism, and Abjection. Differences, 4, 1992, p. 133-155. JSTOR Database.
Appendix
Self-portrait by teenage Dalí (1921).Self-portrait in the Studio (1921).Self Portrait with L’Humanite.Cubist Self Portrait.Self –Portrait with with Raphaelesque Neck (1921-1922).
Footnotes
Dali S., Chevalier H. M. The Secret Life of Salvador Dali. (Dover Publications; Reprint edition, 1993); 43.
Aramaki, Y. Soft Clocks. The Review of Contemporary Fiction, 22, 2002, p. 36.
Dali S., Chevalier H. M. The Secret Life of Salvador Dali. (Dover Publications; Reprint edition, 1993); 62.
Ibid., 54.
Ibid., 82.
Duran, G. The Antipodes of Surrealism: Salvador Dalí and Remedios Varo. Symposium, 42, 1989, 297-310.
Descharnes R., Neret G. Dali: The Paintings. (Taschen America Llc, 2001); 43.
Ibid, 82.
Descharnes R., Neret G. Dali: The Paintings. (Taschen America Llc, 2001); 22.
Easton, R. Canonical Criminalizations: Homosexuality, Art History, Surrealism, and Abjection. Differences, 4, 1992, p. 133.
Mical, Th. Surrealism and Architecture. (Routledge, 2004); 22.
Dali S., Chevalier H. M. The Secret Life of Salvador Dali. (Dover Publications; Reprint edition, 1993): 66
The primary goal of the surrealists was spiritual elevation and separation of the spirit from the material world. Therefore, one of the most important values was freedom and irrationality. The central concept of surrealism is the combination of dreams and reality (Cramer and Grant). For this, surrealists proposed absurd and contradictory mixing of realistic images through photomontage. Buñuel’s first movie, Andalusian Dog, is regarded as the clearest example of surrealist cinema (Taboada). The film must be interpreted through the prism of surrealist poetics. One can try to explain the film only in terms of specific scenes since, in its entirety, it does not carry any semantic weight as the authors intended it to.
The film contains allusions to the works of several writers of the time, including poems by Federico García Lorca and Juan Ramón Jimenez’s novel Platero and I. Buñuel and Dali wanted to avoid the rational components in their movie completely (Bazalgette). Indeed, in this case, the viewers’ interpretation of this short film would be of great importance. However, the images must not be unambiguous, and one should not see them as symbols because this will also make them meaningful. This approach suggests that this film should only be perceived in the context of Freud’s psychoanalytic theory.
By creating a slight haze of formlessness in the film, Buñuel shows the precariousness and instability of the world. From this point of view, the film’s prologue can be considered a starting point from the geometric sphere to the sphere of the vague and unconscious (Kareem 4). In general, the whole movie is a kind of break, alienation, and death of the old culture and values; it is about destroying established paradigms. Moreover, this destruction occurs due to a breakdown of the usual way of thinking. Freud’s concept plays a unique role in understanding the film – the animal’s sexual impulse is held back by culture, religion, and moral norms.
The surrealists noted the similarity of their direction with the theater of shadows, the play of light and shadow. There is no single, genuinely correct point of view on this or that phenomenon. Surrealism strives in every possible way to attract attention to itself, while it is unimportant which methods to use (Ex). Surrealist theorists did not confine themselves to declaring randomness the aesthetic basis of artistic creation. Showing their works to humanity, surrealists urge to rely on intuition and their understanding of what they see. This explains the possibility of different interpretations of the content of the film.
At the same time, it is difficult to say that this movie has any clearly perceived and readable plot. The film’s scenes are bizarrely connected – the events are presented inconsistently, but the setting and characters remain the same. The laws of logic used in other films turn out to be inapplicable to the way Buñuel’s narrative is structured. The change of images in this film is due to the logic of sleep; many things happen irrationally and have a hidden meaning.
In dreams, events can occur both in the past and in the future. The same is true for the plot of the Andalusian Dog. Spanish creators were primarily guided by Freud’s works, especially those moments in his books devoted to dreams, sexuality, and vice (Rajeev). Moreover, the whole movie seems to be one big dream. The movie was deliberately constructed as a series of extravagant images, essentially irrational and defying any rational, psychological or cultural explanation. The dreamlike character of the film’s imagery brought it closer to the poetics of surrealism, which turned the unconscious into the central sphere of artistic research.
Instead of the traditional one that connects objects and concepts in meaning, another logic arises, for example, connecting things in their external likeness. The category of visible similarity becomes one of the central ones for surrealist poetics. Such a logic of joints is already declared in the prologue to the film. A cloud crossing the moon approaches a razor cutting an eye, precisely based on the external similarity of these actions (Bazalgette). In other cases, such logic works more indirectly and whimsically. Consider, for example, how Dali’s dream is included in the film, which impels the creation of An Andalusian Dog. In the frame, viewers see a palm from which ants crawl out. This frame is immediately followed by a whole chain of seemingly unrelated images: the hair under a man’s arm, a sea urchin on the sand, and a severed hand.
Ants crawling out of a wound in the palm of your hand are similar in appearance to blood. But ants can be associated with other themes, the theme of decay, for example. Outwardly, they are often compared in Dali’s paintings, for instance, to hair. Further, for the exact external resemblance to hair in the installation, the sea urchin is exposed, like other sea animals, which is interpreted as a symbol of metamorphosis in surrealism. The severed hand refers not only to the hand with ants but is also directly related to the sea animal (often, the palm was similar to a starfish). Thus, Dali’s dream is gradually immersed in the text, acquiring many associations and strange contexts based on transforming one phenomenon into another.
Each initial shot in the film appears as a burst of subconsciousness. Still, the connection of images obeys an unusual logic of interconnection, where each element can be replaced by its analog. This is how the chains of substitutions are built: hair – ants – blood, behind which two main themes of the film appear. These include death and eroticism, tabooed by classical European culture and therefore especially important for the surrealists.
In some religions, ants were used to recognize a witch, and one must admit that the main character could well turn out to be a witch; in some shots, her gaze looks especially frightening. Moreover, the ants climbed out of the man’s palm just after he touched the woman. Another symbolic representative of the fauna is a butterfly; there are many superstitions linking butterflies with the souls of the dead. This insect is closely related to the other world and the embodiment of the soul. Knowing this, one of the last frames seems a little less meaningless, especially after killing a few seconds before.
The scene with the dead donkeys is perhaps the most explicable part of the entire film. After the hero sees the death of the androgyne, lust awakens in him. He tries to rape a woman, but two grand pianos with two dead donkeys on them and two priests prevent him from getting to her. By this, Buñuel and Dali tried to show how religious prejudices, the bourgeoisie, and death interfere with the natural desires of man – sexual desire and desire to create art, as he wants and achieves his goals. Here the priests symbolize the church; the piano is the bourgeoisie, and dead donkeys are presented as death.
Donkeys may predict the death of heroes to what extent, who in the end will be buried in the sand without eyes and half-decayed. Very strikingly and vividly, this scene shows the likeness of a bared donkey’s jaw to the keyboard of a grand piano. In the future, Dali’s grand piano is often likened to a skull based on a distant similarity in shape and a bared row of teeth-keys. The grand piano is also interpreted as a coffin for a donkey. Hence, the strange form that distinguishes it from an ordinary coffin. It is challenging for an average viewer to understand this scene, abstracting from the image of the grand piano as a musical instrument. The donkeys are blind and rotting here, an allegory of the rotting customs of society, religion, and human stupidity. The fact that the hero drags them on himself shows the imposition of these frameworks by civilization.
Andalusian Dog is a surprisingly eloquent, aesthetically attractive painting, linked to the themes of death, lust, and religion, built on the sensual symbolism of dreams and fantasy. According to some critics, the general result of the experiment of the Spanish authors seems far from unambiguous. Nevertheless, it must be admitted that Andalusian Dog remains one of the most radical experiments aimed at a revolutionary renewal of cinematic consciousness. This film, Buñuel’s first directorial work, was a sign of the emergence of a new great master of cinematography.
