Rise of surrealism

Surrealism was a cultural movement that began in Paris in the early 1920s, taking shape around the poet Andre Breton, whose Surrealist Manifesto appeared in 1924. It grew out of Dada and was influenced by Sigmund Freud's ideas about the unconscious, aiming to release the creative power of dreams and irrational thought. Writers and artists used techniques such as automatic writing and drawing, chance and unexpected juxtapositions of objects. Painters including Salvador Dali, Rene Magritte, Max Ernst and Joan Miro became leading figures, and the filmmaker Luis Bunuel brought the style to cinema. The movement spread internationally and influenced later art, film and advertising.

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