Dada and Surrealism: Anarchy and the Alchemy of Desire

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Dada was launched in 2016 in Zurich, and in 1924 the first manifesto of Surrealism was published in Paris.

Dada and Surrealism were two of the most vibrant, energetic and influential movements of the 20th century, both of which still have their effect today. Dada was launched in 1916 in Zurich, and the first Manifesto of Surrealism by André Breton was published in 1924 in Paris. On this course we take an inter-disciplinary and broadly historical look at Dada and Surrealism up to the 1940s.

We begin with a brief survey of the early 20th century background – Modernism, Absurdism, Futurism etc. – before moving on to the First World War and the emergence of Dada as a furious repudiation of a society that could plunge the world into such a catastrophe, following Dada’s adventures in the revolutionary upheavals in Germany after 1918, and its last hurrah in Paris before a split-away group of poets, centred around Breton, reconstituted itself with a new vision called Surrealism.

Our principle focus will be on the ideas of Surrealism, drawing heavily on Freudian psychoanalysis, broadening out into painting and alchemy under the influence of Max Ernst, opposing colonialism and fascism, but creating tensions in its own ranks as Breton led it further to the political left.
We then look at the pivotal years of 1928-9, when Surrealism went into overdrive, with new people joining, including Magritte, and Buñuel and Dalí (with their film Un Chien Andalou), while Breton, in his Second Manifesto of Surrealism and other writings, laid out the full Surrealist vision – in which poetry, painting, cinema and other art forms were unified, and galvanized by Freudian and Marxist ideas into a complete revolutionary cocktail – an Alchemy of Desire (while simultaneously purging those who did not follow his line).

We will then explore the changes and upheavals of the 1930s, the splits in the Surrealist movement as Breton fell out with the Communist Party; alternative (and darker) visions of Surrealism offered by Dalí, Artaud and Georges Bataille; and the rejuvenating effect of the growing internationalism of Surrealism, and the increasing prominence of women artists and photographers, notably Lee Miller, Dora Maar, Frida Kahlo, Leonora Carrington and others.

We end this course with the Second World War and the dispersal of many of the leading Surrealists across the Atlantic, and in the follow-up course next semester, we trace the story of Surrealism after the war, and look at the enormous influence it exerted across the range of high and popular culture, from the 1940s to the present.

There are any number of books available: David Hopkins’ Dada and Surrealism (Oxford University Press ‘Very Short Introductions’ series, 2004) is a good place to start, but here is a selection of other possibilities you might like to choose from:

  • Allmer, Patricia ed.( 2009) Angels of Anarchy (Prestel)
  • Brandon, Ruth: (1999) Surreal Lives [Papermac]
  • Breton, André (1924-1953/1972) Manifestoes of Surrealism (Ann Arbor)
  • Breton, André (1928/1960) Nadja (Grove Press)
  • Mahon, Alyce: [2020] The Marquis de Sade and the Avant Garde [Princeton University Press]
  • Mundy, Jennifer (2001) Surrealism, Desire Unbound (Princeton University Press)
  • Polizzotti, Mark (2009) Revolution of the Mind (Black Widow Press)
  • Rosemont, Penelope ed. (1998) Surrealist Women (University of Texas Press)

If you would like to reserve your place on David's course click here