Surrealism: Research

Look at the artwork by the following artists. Give a short bio of each artist below including two major
accomplishments in their life. 2-3 sentences each. (2 pt each)

1. Rene Magritte-
Rene Magritte was a surrealist born in Belgium and moved to Paris during the height of his career.
Two major accomplishments of his are joining a group of artists dedicated to creating surrealism
and his art exhibition in 1948 in which he displayed his “vache” paintings. He spent most of his life
creating commercial art for a living and it is rumored that during a particularly financially straining
time of his life he perhaps forged famous paintings and even money, although he was able to create
things he was passionate about.

2. Salvador Dali-
Salvador Dali was a Spanish surrealist artist who is most famous for his paintings, but also created
photography, sculpture, printmaking, fashion, advertising, writing and eventually created films. One
of his most famous works is The Persistence of Memory, a surrealist piece containing melting
clocks. He did very realistic works and said that he wanted his paintings to look like photographs.
He also studied math and science, and was heavily influenced by scientific breakthroughs of his
period. He is known for his dark imagery and it is rumored that he took hallucinogenic drugs to gain
inspiration for his art.

3. Andre Breton-
Andre Breton was a surrealist artist from New York who worked in the mediums of paint and collage.
He co-founded the Dada movement and used his art to communicate anti war protests.

4. Man Ray-
Man Ray grew up in New York and spent two decades living in Paris before returning home and
spending the rest of his life in New York and Hollywood. He worked in mediums such as painting,
sculpture, film, prints and poetry, and his work inspired styles such as Futurism, Surrealism, and
Cubism. As an artist practicing Surrealism before the movement became mainstream, he had a
great deal of influence over the movement and style. He was a Surrealist before Surrealism.

5. Marcel Duchamp-
Marcel Duchamp was an artist who made it his life’s mission to redefine the idea of art and
repeatedly pushed the idea that what matters most in art is the idea behind it. Although his art
often fell into the parameters of Surrealism and he is considered the father of Conceptual Art, he
refused to be connected to any classification of his works. He created very few works before
publicly retiring and spending his days playing chess while secretly working on a last
masterpiece which was only revealed to the world after his death.

Find at least 3 works that represent each of the following. Use work from the above artists for
examples. Make sure to use the 5 artists above for examples (for example- search in google for:
"examples of morphing by Salvador Dali" or examples of levitation by Rene Magritte). Include images
and Label the artworks with the title, artist’s name, and date. You will have 15 images. (15 pts)

1. Find examples of Morphing:

By Andre Breton

2. Find examples of Levitation:

By Man Ray

3. Find examples of Dislocation:

By Dali

4. Find examples of Transparency:

By Magritte

5. Find examples of Reversal of Natural Law:

By Marcel Duchamp