Can Sombody Explain What Surrealism is Clearly and Simply Please?

Question

Please don't link me to Wikipedia or surrealism.com or some such website. I need this explained in a way which is easy to understand.
Thanks.

Answer 1

The basic definition, given by the original Surrealist group, is that surrealism is 'automatism'. Which basically means without any forethought. This is the definition of Surrealism as given by Andre Breton, who was the author of the Surrealists Manifesto: Automatism: by which it is intended to express, verbally, in writing, or by other means, the real process of thought. Thought's dictation, in the absence of all control exercised by the reason and outside all aesthetic or moral preoccupations.
As an example, the surrealists would play a game, they would start with a blank piece of paper and each one would add something to it, whether an image or a statement of some sort, all automatically, without thinking. That's why some of the true 'surreal' art doesn't seem to make much sense, because it doesn't.
Dali has to be one of the best known so-called surrealists, and even though he is my favorite painter in the whole wide world, he kind of had his own version of what he called surrealism, although by original definition it wasn't. Dali's defintion was: 'To make the normal look abnormal and the abnormal look normal'.
So by the original definition, Surrealism is to act without prior thought.

Answer 2

Surrealism Explained

Answer 3

Surrealism is a type of art form. When a painter chooses how to paint, he could choose from a large variety of forms including cubism(used by Pablo Picasso) and surrealism(used by Salvador Dali). If you've ever seen the painting where there's a desert, there are clocks everywhere and they're melting, that's surrealism. Basically surrealism is a painting that shows the irrational things that people can see while in their subconcious(while dreaming).

Answer 4

Think about this, now. If the overwhelming majority of Christians over the world in every age have worshiped God "the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit", don't you suppose it is likely to have some biblical connection? Otherwise, why would those fourth century Trinitarians like St. Athanasius end up putting all those non-Trinitarian books into the New Testament canon? That makes no sense. Listen. The Trinity is a theological model that tries to make sense of the *experience* of Christian people. They experienced the Father-Creator as God. They also experienced Jesus as God (John 20:28; John 1:1-3, 14; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Hebrews 1:1-3; 2 Peter 1:1; Colossians 2:9). They also experienced the Holy Spirit as God (Acts 5:3-4; 1 Corinthians 2:10-11; compare 1 Corinthians 3:16 with 6:19; Job 33:4; Acts 13:1-3). Yet they knew there was only one God (Isaiah 44:6; Deuteronomy 6:4; Ephesians 4:4-6; Mark 12:29-32). There are certainly texts in the New Testament which indicate that early believers were in the habit of thinking in Threefold terms about God (Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14; 1 Corinthians 12:4-6; 1 Peter 1:2). Since the Jewish and Gentile Christians knew there was only One God.... And since they had experienced the Father as God, the Son Jesus as God, and the Holy Spirit as God... And since there are passages in the New Testament implying a strong connection between Father, Son and Spirit... And since the work of creation is ascribed to the Father, and to the Son Jesu, and to the Holy Spirit, so that they all share in the Divine works of God.... It was evident to early Christians that in the depth of the Divine mystery and Love, that Love had come to us and embraced us in three mighty ways -- yet it was One and the same Love. I don't think there has been a major missionary movement in history that has not been Trinitarian. If the Trinity is so wrong, how did all those Christians for all those centuries become so totally overcome by ignorance and blindness that they no longer worshiped the true God? I don't believe that, for it would contradict Christ's assurances in Matthew 16:17-18, that even the gates of death would not be able to hold out against His Church; and Paul calls the Church "the pillar and ground of the Truth" in 1 Timothy 3:15, I am confident that Christ has not allowed His community to be swallowed up in idolatry so that we have forgotten Him. Any Father-created, blood-bought, Spirit-filled believer has an innate experience of the Trinity, even if they cannot put it into words. The reality is still there: the One God embracing them in those ways. And if the Trinity model is not correct, Jesus made quite a blunder in asking us to baptize "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19). The simpler, most straightforward response is that saved, baptized, anointed believers through the centuries have intuitively accepted the Trinity as reflecting their own exerience of worship in power.

Answer 5

Your question has changed since I last looked at it...so I changed my answer, this time without referring to other websites.

Instead, I turned to an old book I've had since childhood; it's an art book for children, and it is still a trusted reference (and yes, much easier to understand).

The book explains surrealism this way (paraphrasing for economy of words):

The surrealists painted dreams; it was a way for them to see their dreams even if they were awake. The paintings were of familiar objects which were painted to look odd. The artists wanted people look at things in a different way, like how everything is so different and strange in our dreams. The painters wanted us to wonder what these pictures might mean, so that we might then wonder what our own dreams might mean.

Answer 6

Giorgio de Chirico, Salvador Dali, Marcel Duchamp

It is art of real objects but in a state of person seeing that object while on acid.

Art lovers I am trying to simplify the best I can.

It is a universal abstract of real word environments, or people.

Answer 7

ever tried light smoking drugs,well most painter artist in the early 20th century would smoke and see a real world turn sur-real

sure-its-real

sur-real

then they used this new image to paint new ideas

see the "Andy Garcia .... Amedeo Modigliani" movie

Answer 8

I am a huge fan of Duchamp and he stated that it is the purposeful forgetfulness... I tend to label it as drawing forth the unconscious mind.

It can be improvisation, automatic/compulsion, etc.

it is NOT abstract alone... but universal.

VERY symbolic

Answer 9

These websites are dedicated to pop surrealism: www.ohsosurreal.com or www.pop-surrealism.com . You can find exact definition in section "about".

Answer 10

it is hard to explain....and i dont think it was meant to be explained...rather experienced. check out some surreal artists and form your own "definition" try Salvador Dali. He is my favorite.