Surrealism art is expressed through several mediums, but it always depicts abstract images meant to communicate the subconscious. The style originated in France, but examples of it are found across the globe. Surrealism gained prominence as a form of political expression in the 1930s and '40s, when the planet was in the grip of the Second World War.
Bulletism
Bulletism is a type of surrealist art where the artist shoots paint at a blank piece of paper to develop an ink blot. He then looks at the ink and imagines what it resembles. The artist goes on to create an image based on what he sees. According to Leonardo da Vinci, the image that the artist sees can be whatever he wants. "Just as one can hear any desired syllable in the sound of a bell, so one can see any desired figure in the shape formed by throwing a sponge with ink against the wall."
Automatism
Automatism art aims to communicate fundamental function of thought that is expressed through the absence of reason. This can be communicated through art, speech, writing or any other way. Writing was initially thought to be the ultimate expression of automatism because of its spontaneous, uninterrupted flow of words. But Andre Masson developed graphic automatism that was able to communicate the fundamentals of automatism through the details of vivid paintings.
Decalcomania
Decalcomania art features gouache or ink pools that are deposited on paper and then hand-pressed with another sheet. The resulting spontaneous image is either refined or embellished. The blotted image can be used to create whatever the artist imagines. Georges Sand created landscape images in the 1830s where the blots resembled images of trees. Other artists, such as Oscar Dominguez in 1936, developed abstract shapes that didn't depict an object.
Surrealism
Surrealism aimed to unlock the power of the imagination by exposing the subconscious. The movement was influenced largely by Freudian thought that consciousness interfered with the mind's potential. According to TheArtStory.com, surrealism was the most influential art movement in the 20th century. At its creation in 1924, founder Andre Breton wrote in "Le Manifeste Du Surrealisme," "Psychic automatism in its pure state, by which one proposes to express -- verbally, by means of the written word, or in any other manner -- the actual functioning of thought."
