Surrealism & Biomorphism

Surrealism was founded by André Breton in 1924. Breton was a Dadaist who was heavily influenced by the theories of Sigmund Freud. Dada was a movement occurring after World War I protesting the intellectual rigidity on art and society. André Breton defined surrealism in the "Surrealist Manifesto" as "Psychic automatism in its pure state, by which one proposes to express -- verbally, by means of the written word, or in any other manner -- the actual functioning of thought. Dictated by the thought, in the absence of any control exercised by reason, exempt from any aesthetic or moral concern." Surrealism is an artistic style and cultural movement that came about at the time when anything orthodox was being pushed aside for anything new and avant-garde. The Surrealist Movement began in Europe and spread worldwide, influencing not only painting but music and film. Surrealist art is not always a picture of anything in particular. Images in surrealist art are often dream-like and irrational, though they can have a realistic style. It is meant to bring together the world of fantasy and the real world. Surrealism offered an alternative to the Cubist movement and strayed away from emphasis on content. Some major surrealist artists are Jean Arp, Max Ernst, André Masson, René Magritte, Yves Tanguy, Salvador Dalí, Pierre Roy, Paul Delvaux, and Joan Miró.
Surrealism also affected later artistic movements, one being biomorphism. The term was first used by Alfred H. Barr, Jr., the first director of the Museum of Modern Art. It was founded in 1936. Biomorphism is an aspect sometimes found in surrealism. It is the use of abstract shapes that evoke forms found in nature.