CHRONOLOGY OF
SURREALISM
1916
While recuperating from a shrapnel
wound in a military hospital, Jacques Vache meets Andre Breton, then a
medical student. The two become close friends and continue a
correspondence after Vache's return to the front lines.
1917
Breton meets Louis Aragon, also a
medical student, and Philippe
Soupault.
1919
Breton, Aragon and Soupault
unite in Paris and begin publishing the avant-garde periodical
Litterature. Before his planned arrival, Vache dies from an
opium overdose.
Breton and Soupault experiment with
automatic writing, dedicating their first collection, The Magnetic
Fields, to the memory of Jacques Vache.
Breton
corresponds with Dadaists, including Tristan Tzara, who arrives in Paris
later that year.
1920
Along
with Tristan Tzara, Jean Arp and Francis Picabia, the
Litterature group participates in numerous Dada
activities.
1921
Breton visits
Sigmund Freud in Vienna.
1922
Having
splintered from the traditional Dadaists, the Litterature group, now calling
themselves Surrealists, includes Breton, Aragon, Soupault, Benjamin Peret,
Paul Eluard, Max Ernst, Man Ray, Robert Desnos, Jacques Baron, Rene
Crevel, Georges Limbour, Jacques Rigaut and Roger Vitrac, among
others. Marcel Duchamp also periodically participates in the group's
activities.
"Sleep experiments" are conducted, examining
an individual's verbal and artistic responses while under
hypnosis. Desnos and Crevel emerge as the most gifted
participants in these
investigations.
1923
Artists Andre Masson
and Yves Tanguy join the Surrealists. Masson experiments with
automatic drawings.
1924
Breton publishes
the First Manifesto of Surrealism, along with his collection of
automatic writing, Soluble Fish. Aragon's The Libertine and
Vache's Letters From the Front (written to Breton
during World War I) are also published.
After five years (1919-24), the
publication of Litterature comes to an end, as the
group launches a new periodical, La Revolution
Surrealiste. A Bureau
of Surrealist Enquires is opened in Paris.
Antonin Artaud, Joan Miro, Raymond Queneau, Max
Morise, Pierre Naville, Jacques-Andre Boiffard and Georges Malkine
join the Surrealist group. Giorgio de Chirico also periodically
participates in the group's activities.
Miro paints The
Hunter and Harlequin's
Carnival, while Ernst paints Woman, Old Man
and Flower and Two Children Are Threatened by a
Nightingale.
A Surrealist group in Yugoslavia forms
under the leadership of Marco
Ristitch.
1925
Michel Leiris, Jacques
Prevert, Pierre Brasseur and Marcel Duhamel join the Surrealist
group. Desnos writes Mourning For Mourning, a
collection of automatic writing. Artaud writes Umbilical
Limbo.
The
Surrealists present their first group art exhibit at Galerie Pierre in
Paris.
Ernst develops "frottage," a creative
approach that involves drawing (or rubbing) over a textured surface,
producing unusual and automatic patterns. His painting The
Horde
(1927) utilizes this
technique.
1926
Le
Cadavre Exquis (The Exquisite Corpse), an artistic game that
emphasizes spontaneity and collaboration, is invented by the group.
Man Ray directs the surrealist film Emak Bakia.
Surrealist publications include Aragon's Paris Peasant,
Artaud's Nerve Scales, Eluard's Capital of Pain
and Desnos' A la mysterieuse.
A
Surrealist group in Belgium forms, featuring the
participation of Camille Goemans, Marcel Lecomte, Rene Magritte, Paul
Nouge and E.L.T. Mesens.
Pablo Picasso takes
part in some of the Surrealist's activities, though he never
officially joins the group.
1927
Andre Breton has his first flirtation with the
Communist Party. Artaud, Vitrac and Soupault are expelled from the
group. Soon after, Artaud and Vitrac form the Alfred Jarry
Theater, where Artuad begins developing his thoughts concerning a
Theater of Cruelty. The company opens with a production
of Vitrac's play The Secrets of Love.
Desnos writes his masterpiece
Liberty or Love. Other Surrealist literature includes
Leiris' The Cardinal Point and Aragon's Irene's Cunt.
A Surrealist Gallery is
opened in Paris.
1928
Un
Chein Andalou, a surrealist film by Luis Bunuel and Salvador
Dali, is screened for the first time. Shortly after, the two
Spainards join Breton and his group. L'Etoile de
Mer, a film directed by Man Ray and scripted by Robert
Desnos, is also premiered.
Several important Surrealist works
are written, including Breton's Nadja, Leiris' Aurora,
Aragon's Treatise on Style, Peret's Mad Balls and
Desnos' play La Place De La' Etoile.
A series of round
table discussions are held by the Surrealists, exploring the nature of
sex. They continue, sporadically, until 1932.
An uneasy
alliance develops between the Surrealists and the group Le Grand Jeu,
featuring Rene Daumal, Roger Gilbert-Lecomte, Maurice Henry,
Joseph Sima, Arthur Harfaux and Roger Vaillant.
The Alfred Jarry
Theater presents an experimental production of Strindberg's A Dream
Play, directed by Artaud. Six months later,
Vitrac's Victor, or The Children Are In Power is
performed.
Magritte paints The False Mirror, Titanic
Days and The Lovers
.
1929
A number of Surrealists join
the Communist Party.
Prevert, Baron, Desnos, Leiris, Limbour,
Masson, Queneau, Morise and Boiffard are expelled from the
group. Several go on to collaborate with Georges Bataille on
his periodical Documents.
Bunuel, Dali, Alberto
Giacometti, Rene Char and Lee Miller join the Surrealists.
Tristan Tzara reconciles with Breton.
Breton writes his Second
Manifesto of Surrealism, which addresses the expulsions of several
ex-members.
After five years (1924-29), the publication of
La Revolution Surrealiste comes to an end, as the group begins preparing a new,
more politically-driven periodical Le Surrealisme au service de la
revolution.
Surrealist writings include Benjamin Peret's
Death to the Pigs and Giorgio de Chirico's
Hebdemeros.
Dali paints The
Lugubrious Game and The Great Masturbator.
Federico Garcia Lorca studies at Columbia
University in New York City. Influenced by his close friends Bunuel
and Dali, he begins a collection of surrealist poetry, Poet in
New York, as well as a surrealist film script, Trip to the
Moon.
A Surrealist group forms in Czechoslovakia, featuring
the participation of Vitezlav Nezval, Jindrich Styrsky, Karel Teig and
Toyen.
Jacques Rigaut commits suicide.
1930
The first issue of Le
Surrealisme au service de la revolution is published.
Several
ex-surrealists, including Desnos, Limbour, Baron, Vitrac and Queneau,
sign an anti-Breton pamphlet Un Cadavre.
L'Age d'or,
a surrealist film by Bunuel (co-written with Dali) is screened, causing a
riot. Several paintings by surrealist artists, which had been
exhibited in the lobby of the theater, are destroyed.
Breton and
his circle begin creating surrealist objects.
Tzara completes his epic poem Approximate Man, while Breton and
Eluard collaborate on The Immaculate
Conception.
1931
Countless
surrealist objects are created.
The Surrealists
join the Association des Ecrivains et Artistes Revolutionnaires
(The Association of Revolutionary Writers and
Artists).
Dali paints The
Persistence of Memory. Breton writes Free Union,
perhaps his most famous
poem.
1932
Aragon and Georges Sadoul
sever ties with the Surrealists, committing themselves fully to
Communism.
Meret Oppenheim, Victor Brauner, Arthur Harfaux, Maurice
Henry, Georges Hugnet, Marcel Jean and Gui Rosey, among others, join the
Surrealists.
Breton writes Communicating
Vessels.
1933
Breton is expelled from
The Association of Revolutionary Writers and Artists
for
"refusing to submit to the discipline of self-criticism."
The final issue of Le Surrealisme au service de la
revolution is published. Breton takes part in the publication
of Minotaure, a glossy magizine, which soon includes the
contributions of numerous surrealists.
The group gives a show at
the Salon des Surindependants, with artist Wassily Kandinsky as their
guest of honor.
1934
Oscar Dominguez, Dora
Maar, Richard Oelze, Gisele Prassinos and Brion Gysin join the
Surrealists.
A Surrealist group in Egypt forms under the leadership
of Georges Henein.
Dali paints Atavistic Vestiges After the
Rain and Mae West's Face Which May Be Used as a Surrealist
Apartment.
1935
Wolfgang
Paalen and Hanns Bellmer join the Surrealists. Bellmer begins
creating a series of startling objects, photographs and
drawings, which he titles The Doll. The
artist continues exploring this theme for several years to
come.
The first Bulletin International du
Surrealisme is
published in Prague, followed by the second Bulletin
International du Surrealisme in Brussels.
The Surrealists take
part in the "Contre-Attaque" movement, an anti-facist "Fighting Union of
Revolutionary Intellectuals."
Rene Crevel commits suicide.
1936
An exhibit of Surrealist Objects is
held at the Galerie Ch. Ratton in Paris.
The first international
Surrealist exhibition is held in London, featuring the participation of
several British Surrealists, including David Gascoyne, Humphrey Jennings,
Henry Moore, Hughes Skys Davies, Eileen Agar, Paul Nash and Herbert
Read. The third Bulletin International du
Surrealisme is published.
A Surrealist newpaper is
developed in Tokyo, Japan, under the direction of Yamanaka.
Dali
appears on the cover of Time magazine. Lorca is
shot to death by a Spanish
nationalist.
1937
Breton's Mad
Love is published.
Artaud is interned in a mental
hospital.
1938
The second
international Surrealist exhibition is held at the Galerie des Beaux-Arts
in Paris. Belgian artist Paul Delvaux, who has created several
dream-like paintings, takes part in the show. A third exhibit
is held in Amsterdam.
Matta joins the Surrealists, while
Eluard breaks with the group, devoting himself to
Communism.
Breton visits Mexico, meeting Leon Trotsky, Diego Rivera
and Frida Kahlo during his stay. He collaborates with Trotsky
on the manifesto Towards a Free Revolutionary
Art.
1939
Dali creates the Dream
of Venus Surrealist Funhouse at the World's Fair in New
York. Other Surrealists travel to the United States, including
Tanguy and Matta, while Wolfgang Paalen goes to
Mexico.
Angered by Dali's self-promotion and
commercialism, Breton creates the anagram "Avida Dollars" for
the artist.
1940
An international
Surrealist exhibition is held in Mexico.
Wifredo Lam
joins the group.
Germany invades France, causing many
of the Surrealists to disperse. Some make their way to the United
States, while others remain in the country, fighting for
the resistance.
1941
Breton,
Ernst and Masson emigrate to the United States. Peret joins Paalen
in Mexico.
Aime Cesaire meets Breton on the island of
Martinique. Soon after, he develops a surrealist magazine
Tropiques.
A Surrealist group emerges in
Bucharest.
Dali paints Soft Cell
Portrait.
1942
An international
Surrealist exhibition is held in New York. The periodical
VVV is published by Breton, Duchamp and others. Dorothea
Tanning, David Hare and Patrick Waldberg join the exiled
Surrealists.
A surrealist magazine,
Dyn, appears in Mexico.
Dali's
autobiographical book The Secret Life of Salvador Dali is
published.
1943
In Brussels, Nouge
publishes Rene Magritte ou les Images
defendues.
Gilbert-Lecomte dies at the age of 36.
Desnos is arrested in France and is ultimately sent to a
concentration camp, where he dies two years later.
1944
Breton meets Arshile Gorky and highly
pariases the artist's work.
Rene Daumal dies. Like his close
friend and colleague Gilbert-Lecomte, he is only 36.
Dali's novel
Hidden Faces is published.
1945
In
Mexico, Peret publishes Deshonneur des poetes, a pamphlet against
the patriotic poems of Aragon and Eluard, which were being
distributed by the underground movement in France during the German
occupation.
Dali designs the dream sequence for Alfred
Hitchcock's film
Spellbound.
1946
Breton returns to
Paris. Artuad is released from a mental
hospital.
1947
An international Surrealist
exhibition is held at the Galerie Maeght in Paris.
Breton protests
a lecture given by Tristan Tzara, in which the former
Dadaist criticizes Surrealism.
Breton's Arcanum
17 is published.
Artaud gives lectures in Paris and
writes a radio play, To Have Done With The Judgment Of
god.
1948
Peret returns to
Paris.
International Surrealist exhibitions are held in
Prague and Santiago, Chile.
An anti-religion collective manifesto,
A la niche, les glapisseurs de dieu, is published, signed by
fifty-two Surrealists, including fifteen from the pre-War
group.
Dali begins a series of innovative photographs with
Phillippe Halsman, including Dali Atomicus and Nude With
Popcorn.
Artaud's To Have Done With The Judgment Of
god is shelved by French Radio the day before it is scheduled to air,
on February 2, 1948. Artaud dies one month later.
Arshile
Gorky commits suicide.
1949
J. Caceres,
leader of the Surrealist group in Chile, dies.
Peret completes
The Elegant Ewe, an automatically written book he began during
the 1920s.
1950
Luis Bunuel reemerges as a
prominent film maker with the release of Los Olvidados, shot
in Mexico. While the film is done in the spirit of
neorealism, it does contain a memorable dream
sequence.
1951
In protest against the
inclusion of Michel Carrouges, a practicing Catholic, in the Surrealist
movement, several members leave the group, including Jacques Harold,
Maurice Henry, Marcel Jean and Patrick Waldberg.
Dali and Phillippe
Halsman create the photograph The Skull.
Roger Vitrac
dies.
1952
Wolfgang Paalen returns to
Paris.
Surrealists work on Libertaire, a newspaper of
the Anarchist Federation. An exhibition of Surrealist art is
presented in Saarbrucken.
Bunuel directs the
film El in Mexico.
Paul Eluard
dies.
1953
Tanguy is expelled by the
Surrealists.
1954
Dali and Phillippe
Halsman publish the book of photographs Dali's
Mustache.
Francis Picabia
dies.
1955
Bunuel directs the film The
Criminal Life of Archimboldo de la Cruz in Mexico.
Tanguy
dies.
1958
Peret's Natural
History is published.
Oscar Dominguez commits
suicide.
1959
Peret dies. Paalen
commits suicide.
1960
An international
Surrealist exhibition is held at the Galerie D. Cordier in
Paris.
Breton and his followers protest Marcel Duchamp's decision
to accept a painting by Dali at an international Surrealist
exhibition in New York.
1961
Bunuel directs
Viridiana in Spain.
1962
Bunuel
directs The Exterminating Angel in
Mexico.
1963
Tristan Tzara
dies.
1964
A major surrealist exhibition is
held in Paris. Breton protests, because he was not asked to organize
the exhibit.
Dali's Diary of a Genius is
published.
1965
Bunuel directs Simon of
the Desert in Mexico.
A major exhibition of Richard Oelze's
paintings tours Germany.
1966
Andre Breton
dies.
(Over the past forty years, while various groups of
surrealists have continued to appear throughout the world, in the eyes of
many, Surrealism, as an organized movement, ended with the death of
Breton.)
1967
Bunuel directs Belle
de Jour in Paris.
Rene Magritte and Paul Nouge
die.
1968
Dali's Open Letter to
Salvador Dali is published.
Marcel Duchamp
dies.
1969
An Autobiography of
Surrealism, which features a series of interviews with Andre Breton,
is published.
Bunuel directs The Milky
Way.
1970
Soft Cell Portrait,
a documentary about Dali, is released. The film is narrated by
Orson Welles.
1972
Bunuel's film The
Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie wins the Academy
Award for Best Foreign
Film.
1973
The Unspeakable Confessions
of Salvador Dali, a book of "confessions" as told to Andre Parinaud,
is published.
1974
The Dali Theater Museum
in Figueres opens.
Bunuel directs The Phantom of
Liberty.
1975
Hans Bellmer
dies.
1976
Max Ernst and Raymond Queneau
die.
1977
Man Ray
dies.
1983
Bunuel writes his autobiography
My Last Sigh. He dies a few months later.
Joan Miro
dies.
1989
Salvador Dali
dies.
1990
Michel Leiris
dies.
1994
Paul Delvaux
dies.
2003
The library, art work and other
historical treasures that were part of Andre Breton's apartment on 42 Rue
Fontaine in Paris, are sadly auctioned off, dispersing the legacy of the
Surrealist Movement. Among the items are more than 500 sheets of
paper noting down the utterances emanating from the sessions of hypnotic
sleep in 1922, as well as a 1924 copy of the Surrealist
Manifesto, signed by Breton, Paul Eluard and Louis Aragon. An
original 1928 edition of Nadja is also included, along with
letters from the Nadja, whom Breton had fallen in love with two years
earlier.
2008
The original
Surrealist Manifesto by Andre Breton is auctioned off in Paris,
selling, along with several other documents, for 3.2 million Euros (more
than 5 million dollars). The work is now displayed in the
privately-owned Museum of Letters and Manuscripts in
Paris.
RECOMMENDED READING
"Bash is one of the few contemporary playwrights who captures the
spirit of surrealism. In fact, surrealist figures from the past, such as
Luis Bunuel, Salvador Dali and Paul Eluard, appear as characters in a
couple of his plays. Dream-like, funny, and sometimes disturbing,
SANCTUS FUMIGACI (which, in English, loosely translates to "Holy
Smoke") is recommended for fans of avant garde literature and experimental
theater."