To the casual bystander, Surrealist artwork is confusing, disconcerting, and just plain odd. To begin to decipher their works, one should start by reading the Surrealist Manifestos, written by Andre Breton in 1924 and 1929. In it, Breton explains that Surrealist artists strive to break the normalcy of ideas perceived by society by exploring them as if they were dreams. Using symbols and dramatic imagery, they sought to bring about conversations about how things aren't always what they seem. This gallery seeks to explore some of those symbols in depth.
Fish Magic, Paul Klee, Swiss, 1879 - 1940, 1925, From the collection of: Philadelphia Museum of Art
Fish Magic portrays colorful fish on a soft black background, but closer examination will reveal that the black was painted over layers of bright color, and the fish were scratched out from the black by the artist. A square of fabric is glued to the center of the canvas, symbolizing a veil covering a secret. There is a line reaching to the top of the clock tower that seems to remove the curtain, and symbolizes that the Earth and the cosmos are closer than we think.
Translated, the title in English means "The Couple With Their Heads in the Clouds." The silhouettes are of Dali and his wife, and his use of airy clouds in both of their brains suggests that they were both lofty dreamers. The soil shown in the bottom of the silhouettes is reminiscent of sand, which is symbolic of a foundation that can shift and move. I believe Dali is portraying both him and his wife as realistic dreamers.
The solitary archaeologist, Giorgio de Chirico, 1937/1937, From the collection of: Museo Carlo Bilotti
This painting portrays a faceless, disproportionate human with innards comprised of various different architectural structures. His hand is raised in a gesture of philosophy. Symbolically, Chirico is saying that occasionally, as an artist, he is asked to fulfill many different roles without being given any artistic freedom to put his own personal touch on it.
This painting portrays a vividly red flower with a burst of starlight emerging from the petals. Symbolically, however, the painting is one of many painted by Kahlo about sexuality and fertility. The petals are arranged in such a manner that they symbolize the male and female genitalia joined in coitus. The starlight explosion represents the male orgasm, and the sun that hangs in the right upper corner has been interpreted as symbolic of a fertile egg. The bolt of lightning? A symbol of intensity and power.
The sower, James Gleeson, 1944, From the collection of: Art Gallery of New South Wales
This painting depicts a monstrosity standing atop a barren wasteland. Unnatural animal mouths and heads jut from this malformed being, and its limbs are twisted and disjointed. According to the artist, he wanted to symbolically describe the horrors of war, and how war warps and destroys everything it comes in contact with. He considered it a warning, with the landscape symbolizing the bleakness of the state of the world and the dislocated limbs representing humanity out of touch with each other.
The Trial, John Tunnard, 1944, From the collection of: British Council
The painting utilizes lines to great effect, as it seems like the observer is looking at a photo album flip open in front of them. Tunnard is using lines to add mystery and draw the viewer's attention to different parts of the painting simultaneously. The effect is dizzying and confusing. These different "album pages" that Tunnard has painted are symbolic of different planes of reality, with voids intersecting them.
Eclipse of the Sunflower, Paul Nash, 1945, From the collection of: British Council
In his personal research, Nash investigated fertility cults and assimilated some of their symbolism into his personal beliefs. The waves in the bottom right corner are choppy, and they represent his earlier experiences with war. The sunflower is both sun and flower. It burns brightly despite the eclipse shadowing it, a symbol of how our own lights will eventually be smothered by shadow. The flower is not attached to a stalk, (we see it lying on the ground) symbolic of how a soul might leave one's body at the moment of death. Originally planned to be a set of four, Nash died shortly after completing this painting. This is the second one.
Battle of Germany, Nash, Paul, 1944, From the collection of: Imperial War Museums
At first glance, this painting seems to be large smears of color. Upon further examination, however, and when given proper historical context, an image appears through the haze. It portrays a British city after a bombing by the Germans in WWII. The use of color is symbolic of the uniformity of the British buildings, with the dark blues and greys depicting smoke, and the red ochre depicting a fire that rages in the horizon.
Spain, James GLEESON, 1951, From the collection of: National Gallery of Australia
After visiting the Sistine Chapel, Gleeson was enraptured with Michelangelo's depiction of man as a perfect creation in the eyes of God. The painting portrays a male nude, standing next to a levitating female encrusted with gems and stone. The male, a symbol of god's perfect creation, and the woman, a symbol of the subconscious and the power of dreams. The man is fixated on the woman, yet there is a group of priests dressed like they're a part of the Spanish Inquisition, beckoning for the male to follow them. They're symbolically asking him to follow them into the light, represented by the lake. In the background, a sleeping man makes up the mountain range, a further symbol of man's perfection in being created by God.
Marxism Will Give Health to the Ill, Frida Kahlo, 1954, From the collection of: Museo Frida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo painted about a wide variety of things, and this one captures her take on communism. It portrays Kahlo, casting her crutches aside as a hand in the sky (a symbol of Marxism) envelops her in its care. One of the hands has an eye in its palm, symbolic of the idea that communism has eyes wherever it has reach. The face of Karl Marx is attached to a hand that is around the neck of another man, symbolic of the hold that communism would have on the government.
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This user gallery has been created by an independent third party and may not represent the views of the institutions whose collections include the featured works or of Google Arts & Culture.
