Dada and Surrealism

By: Faolin Wilhelm

Dada and Surrealism are commonly grouped together due

to their similar absurd and nonsensical nature, but many

may not know they also have similar pasts and are in fact

linked in history.

Although few people recognize the word

Dada, it still had a large amount of cultural

significance at the time.Dada was an avant

garde era responding to world war one started

by poet Hugo Ball in 1916. Unlike any art

movement up to that point, Dada wasn’t meant

to be pretty. Instead, It’s main focus was on

making statements and asking questions about

society and what constituted as “art”. Many of

the pieces in the era were strange and

outlandish. One popular artist of the Dada era

was Marcel Duchamp, who introduced

readymade art into the Dada scene. Readymade

art was essentially art that was made of

everyday objects that had hardly modified at all.

Dada as a whole was a movement that was

against the fine arts in any way possible, so

much so at times that they protested their ​own

movement (a concept which sparked the phrase

“Dada is anti-Dada”, which was said by some

Dada artists at the time) The era ended in 1924,

leading into the much more popular surrealist

era.

Surrealism was, in some ways, was like the

reincarnation of Dada. It even shared some of

the same artists, such as Hans Arp. It was also

an avant garde era, beginning in 1924 and

ending in 1966. One of the key concepts of

surrealism was channeling one's unconscious

mind. Surrealist art is often shocking,

nonsensical and at times unsettling. It was made

to make you think about what you’re seeing,

which, often, can make people uncomfortable.

This is evident in some of the most popular

surrealist pieces such as ​the persistence of

memory​ by Salvador Dali and ​Philosopher's

lamp ​by ​René Magritte, these also happen to be

two of the better known artists of the era.

 Dada and surrealism, in my opinion, are two

of the most visually interesting artistic eras.

Many pieces of the eras molded many opinions

of the time, making these eras quie important.

While the visual appeal of these eras may be

arguable, the importance certainly isn’t.