One Man’s Insanity Became an Entire Generation’s Inspiration Art has always been a medium of expression. Previous art styles like the classic Renaissance Art style of the Victorian era to the gruesome Dada Art Movement reflected the current society’s state of mind. The Renaissance Art style reflected the common enlightenment of society, the embracing of new ideas whereas the Dada Art Movement of the early twentieth century reflected the grotesque effects that World War I had on the general public. However, the Surrealist Art Movement, developed from the Dada Art Movement, didn’t reflect a society’s state of mind. The Surrealist Art Movement emphasized self-expression and the exploration of the mind. The one who revolutionized this change in the usage of art is none other than the most influential Surrealist artist, Salvador Dali. Dali developed a unique art technique that consisted of manipulating the subconscious mind, allowing viewers to uniquely perceive his art in various ways. With his unique technique, the paranoiac critical method, Salvador Dali changed how the world perceived Surrealism by creating a distinction between a branch of Dadaism, Surrealism, and the previously renowned Dada art style itself: the elaborate use of the subconscious mind. The Dada Art Movement was the first global art movement that revolutionized how art would be perceived. The Dada Art movement was “founded in 1916 in Zunich by artists who fled their homelands during the first World War”, a time where war plagued the entire world (Hapgood 64). As a result of experiencing the dehumanizing effects of war first-hand, European artists began to reflect the loss of humanity and the dehumanization of European culture by creating pieces of ‘anti-art’. These ‘anti-art’ works represent, artistically, how “Dadaism is opposed to everything that exists” (Kristiansen 459). By rejecting the past elements of Abstraction and Expressionism, ‘anti-art’ was able to uniquely depict the destruction and devastation war leaves behind in society. This can be clearly seen in one of Dadaism’s most distinguished artwork: the Fountain by Marcel Duchamp. In the Fountain, Duchamp depicts his interpretation of a fountain, a urinal. The artwork represents ‘anti-art’ because in previous eras of art, a simple urinal would not have qualified as a piece of art. However, according to Dadaism, which mocked previous art styles like Abstraction and Expressionism, anything could qualify as art. As a result, Duchamp’s artwork challenged what the world perceived as art, epitomizing everything that Dadaism represents: the rejection of past art styles to reflect the dynamic effects of war on society. This simple yet revolutionary notion would carry on to the next step in the development of modern abstract art, Surrealism. Surrealism emerged as a branch of the famous Dada Art Movement but failed to capture the heart of the world like its predecessor. “The Surrealist movement started in Europe in the 1920’s [sic]” following the death of the Dada Art Movement, emphasized the style of Dadaism “but was less violent and more artistically based” ( Diehl 131). World War I was over and the Dada Art Movement slowed considerably, artists everywhere were slowly adapting to the peace found after the war. This change in environment proved to end what Dadaism emphasized and as a result, Surrealism was born. Continuing the foundation that Dadaism laid, Surrealism sought to change how the world would perceive art. Unlike Dadaism, however, the beginning of Surrealism attempted to “fuse elements of fantasy with elements of the modern world to form a kind of superior reality” (de la Croix 708). This fusion of fantasy and modern society emphasized the “innocent eye, [a concept] that art was created in the unconscious mind” (Mak 1). This theory of the ‘innocent eye’ emphasized the freedom of self-expression instead of mocking traditional culture. However, the society that the Surrealist Art Movement began within preferred what Dadaism provided. As a result, Surrealism was deemed too different and slowly became more and more obsolete as society refuted what the Surrealist Art Movement expressed. However, despite the initial failures of the Surrealist Art Movement, the foundation for a future art style was created. Using the idea of the ‘innocent eye’, Salvador Dali would revolutionize and revitalize everything that the Surrealist Art Movement represented. Based on the idea of the ‘innocent eye’, emphasized by the dying Surrealist Movement, Salvador Dali would develop the paranoiac critical method, revolutionizing and resurrecting the Surrealist Art Movement. The paranoiac critical method, itself, was not a new concept. In layman’s terms, the paranoiac critical method simply involved seeing different shapes and visages within an already existing object. The most common example of the basic use of the paranoiac critical method would be the act of seeing objects and/or animals in clouds. The clouds aren’t purposefully imitating an object or an animal, but to the viewer, the cloud looks like an object or animal. Unlike the example, however, Dali would not simply reimagine a view. Dali would experience extreme hallucinations and stay conscious enough to reproduce his hallucinations by hand. This combination of psychology and art is seen in Dali’s first and most famous Surrealist painting that used his paranoiac critical method: The Persistence of Memory. In The Persistence of Memory, a basic overview would show four clocks displayed in a rather barren desert scene. The clocks are bent out of shape, appearing to be in the act of melting. Without any background knowledge, The Persistence of Memory cannot be clearly comprehended. However, knowing that the artwork incorporates the paranoiac critical method, one can pinpoint the emphasis on ‘dreams’. Also knowing that The Persistence of Memory is a Surrealist piece of art, one is aware of the heavy symbolism used. As a result, further inspection shows that the clocks represent time and the setting of the artwork would be inside a dream, specifically the setting is inside one’s subconscious. By incorporating both psychology and symbolism in a single work, The Persistence of Memory became the most notable Surrealist artwork of its time because of how it emphasized everything the Surrealist Art Movement stood for: Self-Expression. The artworks produced by the paranoiac critical method allowed both the viewer and the artist to express their selves through art. This revolutionary new outlook on how art can be used as self-expression took the Surrealist art community by storm. According to Surrealist Art Movement founder himself, Andre Breton, the “surrealist experimentation has regained momentum under the master-impulse given it by Salvador Dali, and the paranoiac-critical method [is] an instrument of primary importance for Surrealism” (Finkelstein 59). As a result of Dali’s success with the paranoiac critical method, surrealist artists worldwide would imitate Dali’s paranoiac critical method. Thus, near the end of the twentieth century, the Surrealism Art Movement continued to propel itself into the twenty-first century, carrying with it the technique that revived it all: Dali’s paranoiac critical method. In conclusion, Salvador Dali was born in an artistic movement that was slowly dying. Being eclipsed by its superior predecessor, the Surrealist Art Movement was on the road to obsoleteness. However, one insane man’s simple goal of fulfilling his desires revolutionized an entire generation of artists. Using Surrealism as his medium, Dali developed a technique that allowed both viewers and artists to express their selves. This technique, the paranoiac critical method, changed how not just modern artists would paint, but how the world itself would interpret art. Combining the ideals of psychology and self-expression, Dali created the foundation for what the Surrealist Art Movement and modern abstract art would be based upon.

Works Cited de la Croix, Horst and Richard G. Tansey. Art Through the Ages. Atlanta: Harcourt, Brace, & World. 1970
Diehl, Gaston. The Moderns: A Treasury of Painting Throughout the World. New York: Crown. 1986.
Finkelstein, Haim. "Dali's Paranoia-Criticism or The Exercise of Freedom."Twentieth Century Literature 21.1, Essays on Surrealism (1975): 59-71.JSTOR. Web. 21 July 2014.
Hapgood, Susan. "Neo-Dada: Redefining Art, 1958-1962." Performing Arts Journal 17.1 (1995): 63-70. JSTOR. Web. 22 July 2014.
Kristiansen, Donna M. "What Is Dada?" Educational Theatre Journal 20.3 (1968): 457-62. JSTOR. Web. 21 July 2014.
Mak, Alan. "Surrealism." Academic Search Complete. EBSCO, 23 Sept. 2001. Web. 22 July 2014.