Surrealism and the Dream

“Can’t the dream be used in solving the fundamental problems of life?” asked Andre Breton, in the First Surrealist Manifesto. For the Surrealists, dreams were the ultimate site of possibility, the realm in which the artist and writer might be liberated from his or her rationality, moral judgment and taste. This beautifully designed volume offers, for the first time, a thorough account of the centrality of dreams to the Surrealist project. It includes paintings, drawings, collages, sculptures and photographs by Jean Arp, Brassai, Victor Brauner, Andre Breton, Claude Cahun, Leonora Carrington, Salvador Dali, Paul Delvaux, Max Ernst, Rene Magritte, Andre Masson, Dora Maar, Paul Nouge, Karel Teige and Yves Tanguy, among others. A special section on “Those Who Paved the Way (of Dreams)” includes works by J.J. Grandville, Odilon Redon and Henri Rousseau. Critical texts by Dawn Ades and Georges Sebbag examine the history and philosophy of dreams within the Surrealist movement.