Surrealism – Art that aims to express imaginative dreams and visions free from conscious rational control. Often as irrational juxtaposition of images

(Pronounced suh-ree-uh-liz-uhm)

Note: It was a movement in art and literature that flourished in the early twentieth century. 

To remember what surrealism means, recall the following:

My dream was so real, with images of symbolism (surrealism) that seemed illogical and bizarre. 

Surrealism sought to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind. 

To help you understand how this could happen we have created the following project.

Write lots of nouns on a pieces of paper – for example, book, car, frog, scissors, turtle, owl, brick, tree, sword, mug, flower, fox, mushroom, stag . . . the list could be endless!

Fold the paper and put all the nouns in a jar and then shake the jar to mix them up. 

Pull out two pieces of paper at a time and try to connect the two things together. You can do this more than once if you want to try out more than one idea.

Sketch your ideas and chose your favourite. Or, you could draw both together.

Although the pictures themselves often look completely random, the individual components of the paintings are usually quite realistic. Sketch out your final piece. Does it have hidden meaning or is the meaning behind the picture more obvious? Or maybe it doesn't really have much meaning at all.

Once you're happy with your composition, finish your piece in your chosen medium. 

And here is another surrealist drawing we have completed in detail:

Surrealism.