I.

Introduction

Surrealism, movement in literature and the fine arts, founded by the French poet and critic André Breton. Breton published his Surrealist Manifesto in Paris in 1924 and consistently dominated the movement. Surrealism grew directly out of Dada, an art and literary movement reflecting nihilistic protest against all aspects of Western culture. Like Dadaism, Surrealism emphasized the role of the unconscious in creative activity, but it employed the psychic unconscious in a more orderly and more serious manner.