Cubism And Surrealism In 20th Century Art

European artists in the early 20th century developed an obsession to create modern work; Cubism and Surrealism synthesised culture and developing technology to destroy prevailing thinking and conventions of 19th century art. Civilisation consistently possesses an incongruous duality; it is both repelled by and attracted to change. The late 19th and early 20th century was driven by changes like never before; this tension between modernity and antiquity prompted Cubism and Surrealism to spring forth and transform the artistic world. Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Rene Magritte and Salvador Dali created work motivated by a desire to be modern, to express their understanding of a changing world. The social context at the time dictated a strong …show more content…
Cubists were particularly interested in exploring the new perspectives that scientific and technological advances had presented them with. The early 20th century had flourished with progress. “[A]irplanes, wireless telegraphy and automobiles were altering [the] conception of space and time… [as well as] exotic new geometries that could be represented in dimensions greater than three” (Miller 2001). Picasso and Braque were involved in an academic community where “…art and science are means for exploring worlds beyond perceptions, beyond appearances… the cubism of Georges Braque and Picasso dethroned perspective in art.” (Miller 2001). Picasso’s Still Life with a Bottle of Rum (1911) (App. Image 2) shows a distortion of the still life tradition, multiple optical perspectives are shown simultaneously within the one artwork. The sharp lines and strong angles denote movement and energy, themes inherently present in a world filled with newer and faster technologies. Advances in psychology became an integral part of early 20th century Modernists; Surrealism latched onto these theories as a method of communicating previously unexpressed concepts. The psychological theories of Sigmund Freud were particular to the Surrealists, their paintings exploring the themes subconscious desires and fetishes. Freud presented the individual “…not as [an] autonomous agent but as divided, split between what they wished for at a conscious level and the echoes of their unconscious desire” (Leader 2005). This concept was utilised by the Surrealists, particularly Dali and Ernst, to create anti-establishment art, illustrating how “…the mechanisms of the dream [world] work, the ways desire slips through the nets of censorship” (Leader 2005). Contrasting the Surrealists’ complex exploration of the individual psyche, the Cubist’s used technology to extend their