The Canvas Where Reality Melts

Surrealism isn’t a genre — it’s a doorway. Their canvas is a threshold between the conscious and the unconscious, where the familiar becomes strange, and the strange becomes intimately familiar.

The below artwork is "The Persistence of Memory" by Salvador Dali (1931).

Now look at René Magritte’s "The Son of Man" (1964)

Here the content: a man dressed so properly, an ordinary apple, a wall. They are all rendered realistically, in a style that in itself is flat and uninteresting, not at all painterly. Here it’s just the combination and positioning that disturbs.

Now let's ake a look at Meret Oppenheimer’s "Object (Luncheon in Fur)" (1936).

Meret Oppenheimer started to record her dreams at the age of 15 (it was not at all usual to do that back in 1928). Look at this object, "Luncheon in Fur" (1936).

Now let's study Max Ernst’s "The Elephant Celebes" (1921)

In Max Ernst’s "The Elephant Celebes" (1921), we see a world that looks alive but cannot be - a metal elephant-monster, a headless mannequin beckoning, fish swimming in the sky.

Here is Joan Miró’s "Harlequin’s Carnival" (1924-25)

In Joan Miró’s "Harlequin’s Carnival" (1924-25) shapes float, wiggle and dance on the canvas like fragments of another world. It’s more abstract, more decorative even.

Finally, let's take a look at Leonora Carrington’s ‘self-portrait’ (1936-1937).

Final thoughts?