The art of Salvador Dali exhibits surreal qualities.
Emerging in Europe during the 1920s, surrealism is an artistic style that applies to literature, performing art, painting and sculpture. The surrealist movement influenced future artistic movements such as Andy Warhol's pop art of the 1960s, and is most identified with artist Salvador Dali.
History
Surrealism is an avant-garde art movement that began in Europe during the 1920s. Its origins can be traced to the free-form, stream-of-consciousness prose of writer Andre Breton, whose work influenced that of visual artists. from the collages of Max Ernst to the photography of Man Ray. In the art world, surrealism continued to evolve, influencing such artists as Jackson Pollack.
Juxtaposition
The underlying goal behind surrealism is to invoke the viewer to free his desires by exposing him to imagery designed to replicate the disjointed, often surreal elements found in dreams. With this in mind, one of the key characteristics of surrealist art is juxtaposition. One tip to create juxtaposition in your surrealist work of art is to depict an ordinary object out of context or in an unusual way. One of the most famous examples of this juxtaposition can be seen in Salvador Dali's "The Persistence of Memory," in which timepieces of varying sizes appear to be melting at a stark seaside.
Automatism
The Museum of Modern Art defines automatism as a term that surrealists applied to a work that was completely spontaneous. In this case, your goal is to remove conscious thought from the artistic process. This can be difficult to achieve. Some artists would try to place themselves in a trance-like state, while others tried to achieve automatism through drugs. One way to achieve this is to simply clear your mind and start drawing or painting while trying to remove the connection between your mind and your hand.
Collage
Artist Max Ernst was renowned for the surrealist books of collage he produced in the 1930s using frottage, collage and grattage techniques, such as his collage novel "La Femme 100 têtes." Combining wood engravings from 19th-century magazines with images of scientific instruments and photos of unexpected landscapes and interiors, Enrst attempted to take the reader on a surreal journey meant to simulate a dream. You can create your own surreal collage by combining contrasting images taken from various media - an automobile ad taken from a magazine, for example, can be combined with your hand-painted image of a butterfly's wing.
