Surrealism was first defined by poet André Breton in his Surrealist Manifesto. Breton said Surrealism is "psychic automatism in its pure state, by which one proposes to express - verbally, by means of the written word, or in any other manner - the actual functioning of thought." Essentially Breton was challenging artists to forget about reason and tap into their unconscious mind to unlock their imagination of what something could be instead of what it is.  Surrealism was both an artistic and literary movement with a goal of liberating thought and free the human experience from "the oppressive boundaries of rationalism."

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Did you know?
Dali used several different reoccurring symbols in his paintings such as angels, crutches, elephants, ants, and bread. At first these seem unrelated, but if you explore them deeper you can see that each one was purposely included to bring deeper meaning to the painting and represent thoughts that Dali had as he painted. Read more about Dali and the symbolism in his works here: https://www.daliparis.com/en/salvador-dali/dalinian-symbolism