Post-War Art Transformation: Abstract Expressionism & Surrealism

Post-War Art Shift: Paris to New York

After World War II, and with artists like Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning at the forefront, the center of global art culture shifted from Paris to New York. The United States and its museums were slated to become world leaders in innovative emerging trends. From 1935 to 1942, Jackson Pollock worked for the Federal Art Project. In 1943, he held his first exhibition at the Peggy Guggenheim gallery, which provided the means for him to dedicate himself exclusively to painting. From 1942 until 1947, he stopped including colors in his canvases, limiting himself to working with black and white. Years later, he reintroduced color.

The Rise of Abstract Expressionism

Abstract Expressionism emerged in the U.S., offering a new way of understanding art. The United States sought to create a native American style, incorporating both American and exiled European artists. This movement blended influences from both abstract and surrealist painters. Art began to be seen as an investment commodity, a trend that started at this moment. The world was shocked by this tendency towards abstraction.

Understanding Surrealism

Surrealist artists sought to reach a semi-conscious state through automatic methods, allowing the mind to be free, as exemplified by Joan Miró. This approach aimed for pure spontaneity. Another path, exemplified by Salvador Dalí and René Magritte, involved exploring dream states and images marked by life traumas. Dalí also utilized his 'paranoid-critical method,' which deforms images.

Joan Miró's Approach to Surrealism

Miró's style is based on Freudian psychology, which posits that the unconscious has a 'libidinal motor' that drives creation, achieving spontaneous desire freely.

The Essence of Surrealist Automatism

Surrealist automatism arose from the fusion of psychoanalytic free association techniques with sensory input. The objective was to bypass conscious control in the invention of images, submerging into deeper realities. These works were not solely the product of the artists' conscious minds. The artist refused 'supremacy' because, by not consciously controlling the senses, they became a passive receptor for impulses from the unconscious. Miró is therefore one of the most important figures, as he painted through memories and feelings, often without preparatory drawings. Other Surrealist artists worked differently.

Salvador Dalí: A Surrealist Master

Salvador Dalí was born in 1904 in Figueres, Spain. He came from a well-off family and studied in Madrid, where he befriended Federico García Lorca, who developed a strong affection for him. Dalí occasionally visited Cadaqués. Gala was one of his obsessions and inspired many of his paintings. He led a complex personal life, including relationships with his wife and others. Dalí experienced personal traumas that are often represented in his paintings.

Although Dalí began painting influenced by styles such as Pointillism, Cubism, and Futurism, to which he devoted himself for short periods, he soon evolved into Surrealism.

In his paintings, one can easily notice his strong technical education, as he mastered various techniques at the School of Fine Arts in Madrid. Dalí, on the one hand, increasingly delved into his obsessions, demonstrating that daily, personal experiences and their effects on the unconscious could become art.