SURREALISM: THE ART OF DREAMS AND THE IMPOSSIBLE

Actually, most of the times dreams don't have an accurate”shape”, they can be blurred, distorted and sometimes unclear and absurd. Right from this point, Surrealism comes to life: the representation of something IGNORING the reason.

Stuck Inside, 2020 In quarentine in my own head

“Have no fear of perfection, you’ll never reach it”

-Salvador Dalí

The Reset, 2020 Something that could just make things go back to normal

Surrealism was born in the twentieth century and it can be considered as an evolution from dadaism current. This kind of art wants to emphasize the dimension of dreams, of unconsciousness, of our deeper ideas and thoughts that can occur even when we are awake. Actually, most of the times dreams don't have an accurate”shape”, they can be blurred, distorted and sometimes unclear and absurd. Right from this point, Surrealism comes to life: the representation of something IGNORING the reason. The three main issues that surrealistic artists have always “discussed” about, are: love, dreams and madness (these two issues go together) and freedom.

Surrealism is a kind of art free from everything: it is immodest, it doesn’t fear judgements and it wants to challenge classic believes. There's a lot of famous surrealistic painters who represented art in a new way, such as Salvador Dalí, René Magritte or Joan Miró.

“What is important is to spread confusion, not eliminate it.”

-Salvador Dalí

Magritte - The Lovers

Looking for Stars, 2019

Over the years Surrealism has developed new techniques, the fundamental idea being always the same, so the dimension of dreams, the explosion of unconsciousness, but there are different artists who use this kind of art in photography or with visual arts.

Julia Malkova belongs to this group of surrealistic artists. She is a Russian artist who puts together different parts of human and animal’s bodies.

The result is a little bit strange and sometimes it can be define as weird, but our dreams are strange and deformed, aren’t they?

In her works Malkova wants to transmit to observers a sort of concern, of anxiety due also to the colors she uses. Actually her photographs are always black and white and sometimes but rarely, there are different colors.

“If the dream is a translation of waking life, waking life is also a translation of the dream.”

-Rene Magritte

Erik Johansson is another artist who belongs to the surrealistic current.

He is a Swedish photographer who works with visual arts. He captures images and then he transforms them using imagination. His aim is to represent something that in real life will never occur, he creates “scenes” that contain elements that logically can’t be together. Johansson wants to represent the IMPOSSIBLE using his camera. One of the most important thing in Erik’s works is that hint of realism that makes even stronger the idea of Surrealism, something that our eyes can see but our mind can’t accept. His works are really original and very suggestive.

Rafal Olbinski is a Polish illustrator and painter who belongs to the current of contemporary Surrealism. He takes great inspiration from the masters of this kind of art such as Saul Steinberg or Milton Glaser. His works represent the sphere of the unconscious where feelings occur, absurd things appear and then change their shapes. These figures mix between them, bringing to life fantasy creatures. Olbinski uses a lot of colors in his paintings and by using them, he wants to emphasize what is happening in the painting. Actually it is like his works were “waves”: their strength increases when colors become darker and deeper.

“Everything we see hides another thing, we always want to see what is

hidden by what we see, but it is impossible. Humans hide their secrets too

well....”

-Rene Magritte

Article by

Sara Orlandini