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Surrealism

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The early part of the twentieth century ushered in several profoundly evolving styles of painting. Cubism, Expressionism, Futurism, and Dada could assault the senses and offend the viewer’s ideals while simultaneously extracting intense emotions. These movements were based on the beliefs that the artist could express their emotions directly to the viewer through the art, and that art should not be restricted by reason and social limitations. With a kind of nihilistic approach, and an almost selfish attitude, these new styles were the first to present a truly individualist nature. This unique take on artistic expression led to the formation of the Surrealist movement in the 1920’s.

Surrealism, as defined by the Collins English Dictionary, is: “a movement in art and literature in the 1920s, which developed especially [sic] from dada, characterized by the evocative juxtaposition of incongruous images in order to include unconscious and dream elements.” Although he was not limited to one particular style, or even one particular medium, no one artist is more identifiable with surrealist paintings than Salvador Dali. His surreal works, which he calls “hand-painted dream photographs,” are filled with images, often grotesque, over stretching landscapes which in and of themselves could send a viewer into a cycle of deep contemplation. Dali’s most famous painting of this type is The Persistence of Memory, oil on canvas, 1931.

The small canvas, only 9½ x 13 inches, shows us images of melting pocket watches, a solid watch covered in ants, and a malformed “slug-like” creature lying on the ground. All this lay out on a beach landscape with illuminated, mountainous cliffs in the background. The drooping watches are, according to Dali, what Camembert cheese looks like when it begins to soften. Some theorize the watches represent a Freudian outlook on the passing of time and

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