Art Theory
Visual Analysis
Elements of Art
1. Line
2. Colour
3. Tone
4. Shape
5. Space
6. Texture
7. Value
Principles of Design
1. Contrast
2. Unity
3. Balance
4. Emphasis
5. Variety
6. Movement
7. Rhythm
8. Pattern
9. Scale
10. Proportion
11. Alignment
Dada, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art
Surrealism:
- Movement in Art & literature between the two world wars.
- Started in 1924 by forerunners of the Dada movement.
- Combine unconscious and conscious, dreams and reality joined in absolute reality.
- Emphasis on research and experimentation, psychic investigation, dreams and automatic
thought
- Irrational thought and chance
- Rational mind weighs down creativity with taboos
- In uenced also by Karl Marx, they hoped that the psyche had the power to reveal the
contradictions in the everyday world and spur on revolution.
- Tap into unconscious mind, myths and primitivism
In uences:
- André Breton de ned Surrealism as "psychic automatism”
- Sigmund Freud, a psychoanalyst, emphasized the importance on dreams and unconscious.
- Repressed inner worlds of sexuality, desire, and violence provided a theoretical basis
- Juxtaposition of unlikely images is a most common feature.
- Salvidar Dali often included eggs and ants.
- Creative, political or social
- Surrealism was also a reaction against the rationalistic world-view which Surrealists blamed for
world war 1
fl fi
, Stylistic Characteristics:
- Dream analysis
- Theories of Psychoanalysis: Sigmund Freud
- Subconscious realm and irrational thought
- Juxtaposition of uncanny or unlikely images
- Personal exploration into the subconscious and trance/hallucinatory states
Salvidar Dali
Naturalistic, super-real stream of Surrealism. Personal
fantasies where strange, grotesque and bizarre were often
juxtaposed into a dream-scape. natural objects were placed
in unnatural surrounding in his art work.
He was an eccentric and iconic artist who interweaved his
childhood with unlikely landscapes. Violence, terror, fantasy
and sexual Freudian symbols as well as his nightmares are
all main aspects of his art. He was a very talented ne artist
but the freudian in uence encouraged him to explore
another side of his artistry: his dreams, visions, nightmares
and fears as a child. His primary images: decay, blood,
excrement. Used tromp l’ oeil technique (extreme realism),
miniaturist technique and discordant colours.
Soft Construction with Boiled Beans, Premonition of Civil War,
1936.
The Persistence of Memory, 1931
fl fi
Visual Analysis
Elements of Art
1. Line
2. Colour
3. Tone
4. Shape
5. Space
6. Texture
7. Value
Principles of Design
1. Contrast
2. Unity
3. Balance
4. Emphasis
5. Variety
6. Movement
7. Rhythm
8. Pattern
9. Scale
10. Proportion
11. Alignment
Dada, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art
Surrealism:
- Movement in Art & literature between the two world wars.
- Started in 1924 by forerunners of the Dada movement.
- Combine unconscious and conscious, dreams and reality joined in absolute reality.
- Emphasis on research and experimentation, psychic investigation, dreams and automatic
thought
- Irrational thought and chance
- Rational mind weighs down creativity with taboos
- In uenced also by Karl Marx, they hoped that the psyche had the power to reveal the
contradictions in the everyday world and spur on revolution.
- Tap into unconscious mind, myths and primitivism
In uences:
- André Breton de ned Surrealism as "psychic automatism”
- Sigmund Freud, a psychoanalyst, emphasized the importance on dreams and unconscious.
- Repressed inner worlds of sexuality, desire, and violence provided a theoretical basis
- Juxtaposition of unlikely images is a most common feature.
- Salvidar Dali often included eggs and ants.
- Creative, political or social
- Surrealism was also a reaction against the rationalistic world-view which Surrealists blamed for
world war 1
fl fi
, Stylistic Characteristics:
- Dream analysis
- Theories of Psychoanalysis: Sigmund Freud
- Subconscious realm and irrational thought
- Juxtaposition of uncanny or unlikely images
- Personal exploration into the subconscious and trance/hallucinatory states
Salvidar Dali
Naturalistic, super-real stream of Surrealism. Personal
fantasies where strange, grotesque and bizarre were often
juxtaposed into a dream-scape. natural objects were placed
in unnatural surrounding in his art work.
He was an eccentric and iconic artist who interweaved his
childhood with unlikely landscapes. Violence, terror, fantasy
and sexual Freudian symbols as well as his nightmares are
all main aspects of his art. He was a very talented ne artist
but the freudian in uence encouraged him to explore
another side of his artistry: his dreams, visions, nightmares
and fears as a child. His primary images: decay, blood,
excrement. Used tromp l’ oeil technique (extreme realism),
miniaturist technique and discordant colours.
Soft Construction with Boiled Beans, Premonition of Civil War,
1936.
The Persistence of Memory, 1931
fl fi
