SCIENTIFIC SURREALISM
Shannon Schmiedeke
If one utters the word ÒSurrealismÓ outside the company of art historians, one can generally expect puzzled-faced responses, with occasional
recognition of Salvador Dali, the token spokesperson of the Surrealist
movement. While people are often familiar with the famous melting
clocks featured in DaliÕs Persistence of Memory, most do not understand
the cultural inßuences that Dali and other Surrealists strove to express.
The art of the Dali and the Surrealists was not merely created for the
simple purpose of looking or sounding absurd and hallucinogenic. Surrealism was a tribute to, as well as, an exploration of modern western
ideology. Just as people throughout history have tried to capture the
likeliness of Gods and Goddesses through art, so Surrealists, such as
Salvador Dali, attempted to capture modern world-views by making
manifest the abstract concepts of psychologists and physicists.
The Surrealist art movement began in Paris in the early 1920Õs.
The First Surrealist Exhibit was in 1925 and included works by Max
Earnst, Arp, De Chiciro, Klee, Man Ray, Joan Miro, and Pablo Picasso.
Surrealism developed from the art movement known as Dadaism. Dadaism was a reaction against peopleÕs complacency and the social ills of
Òmodern lifeÓ following World War One. Many Dadaist works featured
common objects arranged in absurd, often disturbing ways to provoke its
viewer to question the stability of Òeveryday lifeÓ. Former Dadaist (and
medical school drop-out, who fancied himself an authority on psychology and art) AndreÕ Breton published the Surrealist Manifesto in 1924.
Essentially, Surrealism was to be a more positive Dadaism. The intent
of Surrealism was to preserve the imagination of the people against the
tensions of contemporary life. It was a counter-attack against materialistic, mechanized society.
The emerging science of psychology was the greatest inßuence on
the Surrealists and their works. Psychoanalysts and neurologists such
as Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Jacques Lacan, Jean-Martin Chacot and
Pierre Janet were sources of seemingly endless inspiration for the Surrealists. Enamored with psychological terminology and visions of the
inner workings of the mind, Surrealists prized phenomenon such as hysteria, paranoia, and narcissism. In The Fiftieth Anniversary of Hysteria:
1878-1928, Louis Aragon and AndreÕ Breton proclaimÕ ÒWe surrealists
celebrate the Þftieth anniversary of hysteria, the greatest poetic discovery of the late Nineteenth Century!Ó (as quoted in Gamwell, 2002, p.
244). Surrealism was a new psychological approach to the inside of the
neurotic mind.
Sigmund FreudÕs ideas were the foundation upon which the surrealist writers and painters created their symbolic vocabulary. Freud published his Interpretation of Dreams in 1900, which made an immense
impact on Europe as a whole. According to Freud, the function of the
unconscious mind was to continuously reorganize psychic material,
making new symbolic connections below conscious awareness. Freud
stated, ÒThe unconscious is the true psychic reality, in its innermost nature it is as much unknown to us as the reality of the external world.Ó
(as quoted in Gamwell, 2002, p. 243). Thus the Surrealists took it upon
themselves to make known the world of unconsciousness.
The world of dreams was of great interest to psychologists and Surrealists. The Surrealists used the bizarre juxtaposition of subject matter
experienced in the dream state as a source of inspiration. Such illogical,
random combinations of objects and phenomenon as found in dreams
inspired visions such as those of Surrealist poet, Leuremont, who said,
ÒBeautiful as the chance encounter of a sewing machine and an umbrella
on an operating tableÓ (as quoted in Beckett, 2000, p. 668). The Surrealists did not seek a way through the mire of the mind, but rather, a means
by which to express it.
While his lucid descriptions of dream phenomenon fascinated Surrealists, FreudÕs intentions to unveil the dream were in stark contrast to
those of the Surrealists. Using dream analysis, Freud sought to bring
buried thoughts and associations from the unconscious mind, into consciousness. Freud was searching for the buried, hidden meanings of
dreams, latent in the unconscious mind by means of analytical interpretation. Freud proclaimed in a letter to AndreÕ Breton, ÒA collection
of dreams without the connected association, without knowledge of the
circumstances under which it has been dreamt, does not have any meaning to me, and I can barely imagine what it would mean to othersÓ (as
quoted in Gamwell, 2002, p. 247). To Freud, uninterpreted dreams were
merely arrangements of unrelated words and images, which by themselves were meaningless and therefore, valueless. While Freud strove
to capture the message encoded in a dream, the Surrealists strove only
to capture the miasma.
Undaunted by FreudÕs disapproval, Surrealists continued to express
the irrationality of the unconscious mind, and to maintain the mystery
of the dream. Dali proclaimed that he wanted to create what he called,
Òhand-painted dream photographsÓ (as quoted in Beckett, 2000, p. 674).
He began painting unreality with meticulous realism; fantastic scenes
took form on vast, desolate, landscapes. Aspiring to capture the bizarre
ephemera of the mind, the Surrealists created an unprecedented genre
of art.
Like dream interpretation, automated writing was another popular
psychological tool that the Surrealists adopted. Using that technique, a
person was to write the free ßowing stream of ideas that passed before
the mind, without conscious censorship, or attempts to rationalize the
outpour. Underlying the technique was the principle that if one suspended conscious control of the mind, the stream of thoughts ensued
would allow one access to the unconscious mind. This technique inspired the stream-of-consciousness poetry popularized by the Surrealists, and inspired painters to allow similar streams of visions and symbols to take form in their works.
ÒParanoiaÓ was a psychological Òbuzz-wordÓ in the 1920Õs and became an exalted condition amongst artists of that time. In a nutshell,
paranoia is said to be a misconception of reality that is an extreme ver85
sion of everyday neurotic fantasies. French psychiatrist Jacques Lacan
was the primary theorist on paranoid psychosis. He inspired Surrealists
with his perspective on the paranoid state, and incorporated DaliÕs analysis of the paranoidÕs perception of the world as Òa symbolic reordering
of realityÓ, to his own understanding of paranoia (as quoted in Gamwell,
2002, p. 248). Lacan visited DaliÕs studio, studying DaliÕs ÒparanoidcriticalÓ method of combining unrelated images to form a new symbolic
whole. Said method was applied in the painting Metamorphosis of Narcissus (1934) in which a crouching youth was combined metaphorically
with a pile of rocks. Dali said it was ÒparanoidÓ because Òjust as the
psychotic have delusions, so the artist creates a fantasy by forging a
double imageÓ (as quoted in Gamwell, 2002, p. 248).
The term Òparanoid-criticalÓ was coined by Dali, which he said
he applied to his works with intent to understand and master Òthe forces
and hidden laws of thingsÓ (as quoted in Moorhouse, 1990, p. 14). Dali
deÞned his paranoid-critical method as, Òa spontaneous method of irrational knowledge based upon the critical-interpretive association of delirious phenomenaÓ (as quoted in Beckett, 2000, p. 134). Andre Breton
stated in 1934 that the paranoid-critical method was an invaluable discovery for Surrealism, and that it was applicable to all forms of artistic
expression (Moorhouse 1990, p.13). Essentially, DaliÕs technique was
to allow one to cultivate the phenomenon of paranoia in the petri-dish
of critical observation, whereby it could be synthesized and expressed
in art.
Physics, like psychology, was gaining popular interest amongst
scholars and artists during the 1930Õs. EinsteinÕs theories on space and
time inspired a new realm of thought for Surrealists, and a new perspective on the universe and reality, as it was understood. Dali said in 1935,
that the soft watches in his Persistence of Memory (1931), DaliÕs best
known painting, were a metaphor for EinsteinÕs ideas being Ònothing
else than the tender extravagant and solitary paranoiac-critical camembert of time and spaceÓ (as quoted in Gamwell, 2002, p. 241). The
Surrealists had already challenged perceptions of reality through psy-
chological self-analysis. They then embarked to explore the illusions of
perception through physics and metaphysics.
The theories of Einstein and Heisenburg became a new focal point
for the subject matter of the Surrealists. HeisenburgÕs theory of quantum
mechanics stated that within the model of physical structure, there is
a principle of uncertainty, as to the location and velocity of subatomic
particles, which limited the scope of classical physical ideas. The indeterminacy of science revived the principle of mystery upon which the
Surrealists thrived. They had no ethical reservations in accepting these
new ideas, and volunteered their world-view to be deconstructed. Dali
stated ÒIn the surrealist period I wanted to create the iconography of
the interior world, the world of the marvelous, of my father Freud. I
succeeded in doing it. Today the exterior world, that of physics, has
transcended that of psychology. My father today is Dr. Heisenberg.Ó (as
quoted in Gamwell, 2002, p. 247). Themes of physics of anti-gravity
and anti-matter, visions of the sub-atomic realm hovering within the apparent physical plane, later dominated much of the Surrealists works.
The art of the Surrealists was based on rapidly emerging ÔmodernÕ
sciences. Its shocking themes including such controversial subjects as
masturbation, sadism, homosexuality, and Adolph Hitler were meant to
do more than disturb viewers. They were artistic manifestations of contemporary scientiÞc theories. One may observe the art of the Surrealists,
noting the Òcutting-edgeÓ subject matter and immense artistic talents,
which shaped the Surrealist movement. But in order to truly understand
and appreciate the work of the Surrealists, one must understand the cultural climate in which it was created, and how the Surrealist movement
was a reßection of the contemporary innovations of ÔmodernÕ ideology.
EDITORÕS NOTE: This is an informational essay that was written for
English 100, Expository Writing.
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