Surrealism Inputs of Salvador Dalí and Man Ray (Emmanuel Radnitzky)

Journal on Surrealism
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Journal on Surrealism
The onset of the 20th century marked the beginning of changing perceptions of reality in the creative thinking parlance. Creative thinkers toyed with reality up until the adoption of surrealism as a cultural and philosophical movement that would revitalize the course. The surrealism era was characterized by liberation of the psyche and tapping into hidden reservoirs of creativity. Salvador Dalí and Man Ray (Emmanuel Radnitzky) stand out among the artists who adopted the inputs of surrealism. This journal analyzes The Persistence of Memory (1931) by Dalí and Anatomies (1929) by Ray as two works that trigger insights into surrealism and how it impacted artists. The two works are critical in understanding surrealism deep into the characteristics of the type of medium and the unique perceptions that surrealist artists emphasized in their works.
Understanding surrealism must stem from the definition that it has courted over the years. Surrealism is a form of art culture and movement that emerged in the 20th century to bridge reality and imagination (Foster, 2019). Surrealists create bizarre or unreal stories full of juxtapositions to overcome the contradictions of conscious and unconscious minds. Surrealism also accepted the Freudian concept of unconscious drives or desires we do not realize we have. Surrealism concentrated themes of chaos and hidden urges in an attempt to tap into the unconscious mind for political and creative inspiration. They felt that by rejecting highly rational cognition, superior thoughts and expressions would emerge.
The medium of choice is one contrasting element in The Persistence of Memory (1931) and Anatomies (1929) worth exploring. Surrealists believed in the freedom of expression. They expressed their conscious and subconscious minds however they deemed fit. The use of different mediums is a manifestation of juxtapositions that marked the basis o...