Surrealism was a cultural movement that developed in Europe after World War I. As a result of the war, many soldiers suffered from shell-shock and were treated in neurological hospitals with Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic methods. Freud’s work with free association, dream analysis, and the unconscious mind was significant to Surrealists in developing methods to liberate their minds and creativity. During the war, Andre Breton, a French writer and poet, worked in a neurological ward in Nantes. In 1924, he published the Surrealist Manifesto and thus became the founder and chief apologist of surrealism. 

Many writers and artists in Paris became involved with Dada, protesting with anti-art gatherings, performances, writings, and artwork. Dada activists believed that excessive rational thought and bourgeois values were corrupting the human mind and brought war to the world. Surrealism developed out of Dadaism. Surrealists also believed that excessive rational thought was corrupting society and that art, film, and music should be thought about and produced in different ways. But what made the surrealism movement unique from the Dadaists was its reliance on the arts. Dadaists were anti-art, creating pieces that criticize and fully dismantle traditional artforms. Surrealists were critical and destructive, but they only destroyed what they viewed as constraining creativity. Surrealism’s goal was to free men from the limitations of rational thought. The movement believed that if one were to disregard convention and logic they would be open to new creative opportunities.

The works curated all feature abstract shapes, unexpected juxtapositions, and unsettling imagery. The six objects share the common desire to unlock the viewer’s unconscious mind and call them to question the world around them.