Surrealism and Psychoanalysis - Term Paper Example

Professor Name Institution, course number Date Surrealism and Psychoanalysis The term “surrealism” has become popular among different streams of Art during the last centuries. Its meaning is usually interpreted as “more than real”. Surrealism exists in different forms of Art directions, such as painting, plays, films, poetry and so forth. The aim of this work is to describe surrealism in relation to the psychoanalysis and reveal the main areas of their interconnection. The content “surrealism” appeared in the beginning of 1920’s in France. It was characterized by the unusual combinations of images and forms. This stream attracted many followers and successors, constantly improving and developing. In 1917 the world saw the new play of Giyom Appoliner, written in the surrealistic manner. Painting has also experienced significant changes with the creativity of such artists as Salvador Dali, Rene Magritte and Max Ernst. The unusual new style works of David Linch and Jean Cocteau enlightened the film industry. The basic concept of surrealism is the combination of dream and reality. In order to achieve this condition, the surrealists offered absurd and contradictory combination of naturalistic images by means of collage and «ready-made» technology. This stream was greatly influenced by Freuds theory of psychoanalysis. That is why, many scientists consider surrealism and psychoanalysis as the strongly interconnected phenomena. They state, that the nature of surrealism comes from the internal imagination of the individual, influenced by the distorted reality of the world. The primary aim of surrealists was a spiritual elevation and separation of the spirit from the materialistic surrounding. One of the most important values of surrealism is freedom and irrationality. Surrealists often perform their work under the influence of hypnosis, alcohol or drugs, in order to reach the depths of their subconscious. They found the content of “uncontrolled creation of the texts” called automatic writing. However, the randomness of the images was often substituted by their strong forethought. Consequently, the surrealism became not just a self-goal, but a deliberate statement of ideas, seeking to break the ordinary representation of life (for example, the mature work of classic surrealist Rene Magritte). The tradition of surrealism is well revealed in the sphere of cinematography, but lost its freshness in painting and literature. The pictures of Luis Buñuel, Jean Cocteau, David Lynch, Jan Švankmajer, Michel Gondry, represent it. The ideas of Viennese psychologist and philosopher Sigmund Freud were highly appreciated by the society. However, it would be simplistic to think that the surrealists worked on Freud’s recipes or "illustrated" his ideas. Their concepts were strongly supported by the discoveries of Freud’s psychoanalysis. One of the methods of achievement of surrealist vision was writing or sketching the dreams immediately after waking up, until they affect the real consciousness, without logical explanation. This method of Freud’s psychoanalysis was called “the analysis of delivered thoughts” and achieved great admiration among his successors. Freud’s conception caused in Europe even greater resonance than the ideas of Friedrich Nietzsche. His position stated that, the notions of family, religion, government, ethics, logic, and aesthetic norms are accepted in surrealism as something conditional. The unconditional and absolute things were represented by the life events with all their peculiar laws, which emerged long before the foundation of concepts of good and evil, God and mind. Due to Freud’s psychoanalysis, the stream of surrealism was not accepted as a groundless fantasy and imagination of anarchists, but as a new world of art, history and thought. This type of psychology attracted wide attention from the society and looked like a new representation of man, his history and religion. Freud’s psychology stated that unconscious peoples lives are hectic and emotional, largely determining the behavior, ideas, and creative possibilities of the individual and has nothing to do with morality, reason, or the so-called "eternal values​​". Salvador Dali, at the beginning of his career, closely communicated with the circle of the surrealists, which included Marx, Freud and Nietzsche. These scientists and philosophers were engaged in different activities. They offered, not to trust the person and society. Those things, which people consider as the most important ones are just the covers for something, coming from their internal subconscious. Surrealism seeks for the methods, which could provide an opportunity to "condemn" the culture of fraud. “Surrealism is based on the belief in the superior reality of the dream” (Bolton, L., 2000, 5). It means that this stream always looks for the inspiration, revealed from the combination of imagination and desire. The surrealism strongly criticizes the bourgeois culture, because of its simplicity and eternal struggle for the achievement of standard materialistic purposes. “Manifesto of surrealism” created by Andre Breton calls people to reject their past and real, seeking for the unknown truth. The text comprises Breton’s ideas based on the psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud. He reveals the concept of the “psychopathology of everyday life” connected with the surrealistic methods of perception the reality. According to Bret’s “Manifesto of surrealism”, everyone has an opportunity to understand the essence of unreal dimension, if he releases his life from hard working, traditional education and other features of standard bourgeois culture. Bret represents the imagination of children, poets and even insane people, as a perfect tool for the creation of surrealistic ideas. Children have a spontaneous imagination, not stifled under the pressure of the sociological factors, while poets managed to overcome the barriers, which are the result of long interconnection of imagination with the standard social thinking. While a person grows up, his dreams are destructed under the influence of every day troubles. In his Manifest, Bret calls people to release their imagination. Bret’s work also contains four-part writing about the defense of dreams, influenced by Freud’s work on the importance of dreams. He considers them as the initial truth, which must have practical application in the real life. Bret also describes the content of “surrealist consciousness” not only as a tool of artists, but as an opportunity for the ordinary people to research and enrich their inner world. The text is written in the narrative manner with the episodes of detailed reasoning. It includes the methods of accusation, direct address and interrogation. The intonation and the style of writing possess the rhetorical techniques, typical for Greek agora. The hyperbole is used to undermine its context, though the message is mostly political. The text interprets life and nature of the person in its initial representation. It describes our world as a continuous contradiction between the internal and external reality. The relationships between the reader and his dreams are revealed through the understanding of what he wants and what he does. Sometimes people refuse to accept the real state of things, imagining something else or vice versa. The thing is that both positions are truthful, because they are created by our own perception. “The surrealists took from Freud confirmation of the existence of a deep reservoir of unknown and scarcely tapped energies within the psyche. Freud’s decoding of psychosexual instincts and complexes in everyday thoughts and actions also encouraged the surrealists to study themselves, the events in their lives, and the world around them as if looking for hidden meanings, or clues to the secrets of existence” (Gille, V., 2001, 12). The major part of the Manifesto contains the description of Freud’s attitude to dreams, indicating practically the same idea. The unusual perception of life events enable people to create the World Art’s masterpieces and the stimulation of imagination is the essential part of this process. “Everything occurred as if the mind, heaving reached this crest of the unconsciousness, had lost the power to recognize its position. In it subsisted images that assumed form, became the substance of reality” (Bradley, F., 1997, 20). The images of unconsciousness are revealed in the real objects, which have forms and shapes. However, their individuality depend upon the creativity of the imaginary world of the author. Analyzing this information, we can make conclusion, that surrealism rejects the traditionally accepted norms of social life, technical civilization and moral principles. It proclaims the anarchy of thoughts, spontaneity of subconscious and rejection from mind control. As any other branch of Art it has both negative and positive sides. The positive features are revealed in the liberation of human internal freedoms; while negative represent it as the destructive event with anti-humanistic character. Works cited Bolton, L. Art revolutions surrealism. New York: Peter Bedrick books, 2000. Print Bradley, F. Surrealism. Movements in Modern Art. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. Print Gille, V. Surrealism desire unbound. London: Tate Publishing Ltd, 2001. Print Read More