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 SurrealistSalvador 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 BlumeSouth 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