Surrealism began in the 20th century in Europe, known to be the most influential movement finding its roots from the era of Dadaism and Cubism (The Art Story, Web.). As Surrealism came nearly after World War I and World War II, artists decided to recreate the destruction left behind turning into a fantasy. Fantasy: the imagination above the reality of life, which was illustrated as art. The combination of the two eras led to the creation of an art form that was unknown and out of the art world. Surrealists used their subconscious mind and creativity to turn the reality into a dream, which made outstanding pieces of art. The artist Andre Breton was the founder of this movement. His belief, “true surrealists had no real talent; they just spoke
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He was born on May 11, 1904, in Spain. He came from a middle-class family with the father was a lawyer who was strict and dominant. Regardless of being punished by his father throughout childhood, Dali was very intelligent. Dali was often told that he was the reincarnation of his older brother who died in childhood. His mother passed away when he was only 16 years old and knowing the fact that his father later married his deceased mother’s sister, the distant relationship of the son and father continued. In the 1920s, after the death of his mother, he visited Paris where he came into touch with great artists such as Picasso and Miro, which led him for his first phase as a Surrealist. Swans reflecting Elephants from 1937 is one of his many imaginative works. The painting played a major role in Dali’s paranoiac-critical period. It portrays a double image and visual illusions in a hallucinatory form on canvas. The process of the painting was quite interesting; "spontaneous method of irrational understanding based upon the interpretative critical association of delirious phenomena”(Dali paintings, Web.), he explained. The painting contains three swans with trees in the back reflecting in the pond creating shapes of three elephants. Also, looking towards the back, a man can be seen as if it could be Dali himself is illustrating a self-portrait. The 1’8” by 2’ 6”, oil on canvas painting was privately owned as a collection for $3.7 million at auction (Dali, Blog,
He was born on May 11, 1904, in Spain. He came from a middle-class family with the father was a lawyer who was strict and dominant. Regardless of being punished by his father throughout childhood, Dali was very intelligent. Dali was often told that he was the reincarnation of his older brother who died in childhood. His mother passed away when he was only 16 years old and knowing the fact that his father later married his deceased mother’s sister, the distant relationship of the son and father continued. In the 1920s, after the death of his mother, he visited Paris where he came into touch with great artists such as Picasso and Miro, which led him for his first phase as a Surrealist. Swans reflecting Elephants from 1937 is one of his many imaginative works. The painting played a major role in Dali’s paranoiac-critical period. It portrays a double image and visual illusions in a hallucinatory form on canvas. The process of the painting was quite interesting; "spontaneous method of irrational understanding based upon the interpretative critical association of delirious phenomena”(Dali paintings, Web.), he explained. The painting contains three swans with trees in the back reflecting in the pond creating shapes of three elephants. Also, looking towards the back, a man can be seen as if it could be Dali himself is illustrating a self-portrait. The 1’8” by 2’ 6”, oil on canvas painting was privately owned as a collection for $3.7 million at auction (Dali, Blog,