Surrealism art was a movement that started in Europe between the first and the second World Wars. It grew from the earlier Dada movement but its emphasis was on positive expression of a subject. It was a sort of reaction to the rationalist thoughts that plunged Europe into the catastrophic World War I. According to the poet, Andre Bretton who released ‘The Surrealist Manifesto’ of 1924, it was a way of joining the conscious and the sub-conscious experience levels so that dreams and fantasy could also be merged into the rational world in a surreal manner.

Although surrealist art form is not limited to any general type, some conventions in it are still followed by artists. The use of these conventions can vary considerably but the essence of an art form is preserved. We take look at them to understand the art form in detail.

• Uniting the spheres – Surrealism artists are known for their exquisite creations that can unite the conscious and the sub-conscious experience spheres. It is one area that is highly desired in this type of art form. In this context, it draws its theories from the famous Austrian psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud and Breton always maintained that the unconscious is a product of imagination. Therefore, painters can attain that level and produce art forms that can be compelling to view.
• Experimentation and research – Surrealism art strongly believes in experimentation and analytical research because it is a way of conducting a psychic investigation and making the disclosure. Carefully researching on a subject can bring forward the very best of it so that an artist can produce a canvas that can be liked by a lot of people. This area has been particularly focused upon in the art form and many contemporary artists are known to conduct deep experiments before creating a presentation.
• Uses of specific techniques – Surrealism artists are known to use certain specific techniques that are a hallmark of this art form. ‘Frottage’ that is rubbing with help of graphite on wood or any other grained item and ‘grattage’, which is a type of canvas scrapping to make partial images, are some of them. They are used so that an image can be completed in the mind of a viewer. Automatic drawing is also a technique in which uncensored reporting of tumultuous images that come in the mind of an artist is often used.
• Importance to free form and content – Surrealists are also known to insist on free form and content of a subject. It is a major aspect of this art form and signifies its importance. Unlike the contemporary Cubist movement, free form and content are highly formalized in this art form so that artists have a way to represent the same most correctly. Free form and content define surreal art considerably.

These are some of the conventions of surreal art and apart from them, there are also many other practices of this art form that make it a treat to watch for its intricate representations.