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Have you ever been able to remember the dreams you see at night? Aren’t they too weird? Insensible and sometimes scary images are formed in our subconscious mind while sleeping. It is too difficult to know what those sequences in our head actually meant. 

“Surrealism” is one such art form in which artists try to express those imageries in a painting. They create strange and illogical scenes using everyday objects. This art is devoid of any rationalism or reality and based on pure imagination. Artists believed that mind sustains a power to unveil contradictions of real world.

If you browse through different types of paintings at any art gallery online, surrealist paintings are those which would make you stop and think about the picture for a while. These paintings generally have philosophical meanings which is not so easy for a person to understand. Surrealism is a cultural movement initiated by French artists around 1924 who believed that traditional values have being meaningless and do not relate to society and the values that exist. It was not limited to paintings but encompassed all forms of art like music, films, literature, etc. First, they were inspired by the theories of Sigmund Frued, who is known as father of psychoanalysis. He was an explorer of human mind. He believed that unconscious minds sustained many thoughts and emotions. Different techniques were used by artists to create these images. One was to draw whatever image comes to their mind i.e. doing an automatic drawing just as we often sketch just about anything with our pen while thinking about other things. You must have noticed how our conscious mind cannot relate to those images or why we drew that sketch. Abstract expressionism was influenced by surrealism itself.

Basically after first world war, artists tried to escape from the bitter reality into another world. They found a new world by tapping into their unconscious mind. Dreams and hallucinations intrigued them.

With time, following techniques have evolved out to create this kind of modern art work:

  • Collage

You must be familiar with collage. It is extensively used in creativity these days. It is a technique which involves formation of a design by assembly of different elements together. It may involve magazine and newspaper clippings, photographs, texts or different paint styles. This term was coined by Pablo Picasso, father of “Cubism”.

  • Cubomania

It is a random arrangement of one picture cut into squares and placed irrespectively, like a puzzle.  It was developed by a Romanian artist, Gherasim Luca. 

  • Decalcomania

It is an unusual decorative style which helps in engraving different styles on pottery or other materials. It is also known as “Decal”. In this technique, a thin paper or a foil is placed on a wet paint and then removed immediately, which leads to a pattern formation on the paint. On drying up, it forms a wacky design.

  • Eclasboussre

It is a French name. It is used for creating random dots or splatters on a painting. It is done by splattering water on watercolors or oil paint, which then soak up the splatter giving a look of open space. 

  • Frottage

In it two objects are rubbed against each other, forming different shapes. It is also the name of a method in which pencil or other shading tools are rubbed against a textured surface.  

  • Fumage

In this mind-boggling technique, impressions are made on a canvas or a sheet using smoke of candles or kerosene lamp. It is more often used for creating ghost-like structures. 

  • Grattage

It is a technique in which print on the surface is unveiled by peeling off the paint from the canvas or other media.

Max Ernst, Joan Miro, Salvador Dali are some of the famous artists who played a major role in emerging out the Surrealism paintings. This art taught people to look beyond what we see or hear. It made people explore their own imaginations which not really relate to this world. It can be both optimistic and depressing. It helps express an artist’s feelings in visual form freely. In modern times, technology has helped creating three-dimensional images as well. Indian art collectors can have wide range of surrealist designs at any art gallery in India. If you like to have funky and weird collection, surrealism art is a way to go.