Surreal

• Unreal or dreamlike

Surrealism 1924-1930

• Surrealists wanted to free their minds of rational thought, to paint the ideas that were buried deep in their minds. These artists did not wish their work to make sense.

• This is why many of the paintings look like scenes from a dream (or nightmare). Many Surrealist paintings include imaginary creatures or real-life creatures shown in unnatural ways.

Rene Magritte

Golconda

The Son of Man

The Man in the Bowler Hat

Salvador Dali

The Strange Life of Dali•

While at art school, Dali painted in a few different styles. It was also during this time that he developed the first of his many strange styles of dress: He grew his hair long and wore sideburns and he dressed in suit coats, stockings, and short pants that stopped at the knee. After nearly four years of school, his ego had grown so large that he decided he was too good for any of the professors to judge him. When he expressed this feeling, he was kicked out of the academy.

After he left the Academia de San Fernando, Dali began to experiment will Surrealism. He also grew a thin mustache that curved up at either end. Both the mustache and the surrealist style would last the rest of Dali’s life.

About the painting: This is the best known painting by Salvador Dalí. After entertaining guests in the evening, Dalí sat at the table looking upon the soft, half melted Camembert cheese. Suddenly the idea of melting watches came to him and he immediately got to work. During this time in Dalí's life he was influenced by Freud, and dream analysis was an active ingredient in Dalí's paintings.

The Persistence of Memory