Surrealism Vs. Psychedelic Movement - The Act of...

The Act of Fantasizing:
A Comparison of the
Psychedelic Movement and
Surrealism
3/21/15

While fantasizing is a common activity that most people take a part in daily, it used to be very low-
key and private. The ideas of fantasy have progressed and become stronger through each new
generation. Ideas are being demonstrated and forced upon society more than ever. To express such
abstract and absurd ideas has become more and more common in society, especially as each new
generation of youth come about. The lines between real and fantasy has started to blur as new ideas of
normalcy come to being. Two art movements are solely held responsible for expanding these ideas. Both
the Surrealist movement and the Psychedelic movement have introduced new ways of thinking and have
forever changed the opinions of society.
The rational and irrational always contradicts itself, and may sometimes lead to problems. After
the World War I, many people started believing that the war was entirely based upon excessive rational
thoughts and bourgeois values. These people turned to Dadaism, being against art at the time and the
unstable middle class. These people, originating in Paris, joined together and helped form Surrealism.
Surrealism officially started back in 1924 upon the release of “The Manifesto of Surrealism” by André
Breton. In this book, Breton suggests that society return to a state of imagination and freedom of
childhood. He refers to ideas of psychoanalysis and how the brain reacts to certain issues. There is a
want for letting one’s imagination wander and explore different realms. Dreams, states of
unconsciousness, and people claimed as insane are taken into deep thought in this movement in order to
really understand what is going on. This is a search of understanding the unknown and using one’s
imagination to portray hypotheses. Also shown in Surrealist art is the recognition of basic drives such as
hunger, fear, sexuality, ecstasy, and more. Artists are allowed to express ideas as if it were just a dream
rather than reality.
The search of understanding is shown by the artists’ portrayal of different absurd combinations to
represent the mind’s workings. Strange juxtapositions are also used to help the understanding. Basic