Surrealism began as a philosophical movement that said the way to find truth in the world was through the subconscious mind and dreams, rather than through logical thought. The movement included many artists, poets, and writers who expressed their theories in their work. The movement began in the mid-1920s in France and was born out of an earlier movement called Dadaism from Switzerland. It reached its peak in the 1930s.
Key Vocabulary
-Realistic -Imagery -Tesselation
-Space -Positive Space
-Negative Space -Painting
Rene Magritte | René François Ghislain Magritte was a Belgian Surrealist artist. He became well known for creating a number of witty and thought-provoking images. Often depicting ordinary objects in an unusual context, his work is known for challenging observers' preconditioned perceptions of reality. |
M.C. Escherwas a Dutch graphic artist who made mathematically-inspired woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints. Despite wide popular interest, Escher was for long somewhat neglected in the art world, even in his native Netherlands. He was 70 before a retrospective exhibition was held. In the twenty-first century, he became more widely appreciated, with exhibitions across the world |
Frida Kahlo | Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón was known for her surreal and very personal works. She was married to Diego Rivera, who was also a well-known painter. Frida was born in Coyoacán, Mexico. She had polio that left her disabled when she was 6 years old, and some people think that she may have had spina bifida (a birth defect that affects the development of part of the spine) as well. She studied medicine and planned to become a doctor. When Frida was 18, she was in a traffic accident that badly injured her. She had periods of severe pain for the rest of her life. After this accident, Kahlo stopped her medical studies and took up painting. She used ideas about things that had happened to her. Frida had strong feelings about not being able to have children, and her feelings were reflected in her paintings. |
PROJECTS, & PROCEDURES
Essential Question: Why do artists follow or break from established traditions?
Surrealism Art Projects
I can: demonstrate openness to trying new ideas, methods, and materials. Va:Cr1.2.(6-8)Va:C2.1. (6-8) Va:Re.9.1 (6-8) VA:Pr5.1. (6-8) | Middle school students at Deerfield will build a deeper understanding of the roll math plays in the work of M. C. Escher and will create their own tessellation work of art! Students will have the opportunity to build their own tessellation or use an assistive tessellation building kit to help them sketch their tessellation pattern on an extra large piece of paper. After the building and designing process students will then have the opportunity to explore and experiment with permanent markers and watercolor colored pencils and markers. |
3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students of Deerfield Township will delve deep into the meaning and thought behind Rene Magritte's painting False Mirrors! After sharing our individual connections, thoughts, and opinions about the work students will begin creating an image of a realistic eye using step by step guided procedures. After creating their eye students will move on to creating their own individual reflection within the iris and pupil of the eye that reflects a part of their personality or identity. Students may draw, paint, sketch or collage this portion of the project. | I can: Identify and demonstrate diverse methods of artistic investigation to choose an approach for beginning a work of art. ( VA:Cr1.2.4a & VA:Cr1.2.5a ) |
| Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade students are learning about the famous surrealist painter, Frida Kahlo. First, we learned about the struggles and health issues that Frida had in her life and why she started painting pictures of herself in imaginative places. Next, we created our own jungle habitats using pencil, permanent marker, and tempera cake paints. Then, we learned how to make a self-portrait using shapes and mix tempera paints to create our skin tone. We added our unique facial features to make our self-portraits look just like us. Last, we created rainforest animals to complete our surreal jungle selfies! |