one surrealist a day

because we all need to dream a little

[surrealism]

Le temple by Paul Delvaux, 1949. Oil on panel, 44¾ x 57½ inches.

[surrealism]

Variante de la tristesse (Variation of Sadness) by René Magritte, 1957. Oil on canvas, 50.2 × 60.3 cm.

[surrealism]

Neo-organic figuration describing the inclination of entities by James Gleeson, 1939. Oil on canvas, 88 x 72.5 cm. The National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia.

[surrealism]

Investigation, Scientific or Otherwise, of Matter Without Form by Ivor Francis, 1943. Oil on canvas, 69.5 x 94 cm. The National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia.

[julialillard]

[surrealism]

There is No Void by Julia Lilliard, 2016. Collage.

[surrealism]

Masses

by César Vallejo, 1961; translated by Robert Bly

When the battle was over And the fighter was dead, a man came toward him And said to him: "Do not die; I love you so!" But the corpse, how sad! went on dying.

And two came near, and repeated it. "Do not leave us! Courage! Return to life!" But the corpse, how sad! went on dying.

Twenty arrive, a hundre, a thousand, five hundred thousand, Shouting: "So much love, and it can do nothing against death!" But the corpse, how sad! went on dying.

Millions of persons stood around him, All with the same request: "Stay here, brother!" But the corpse, how sad! went on dying.

Then all the men on the earth Stood around him; the corpse looked at them sadly, deeply moved; He sat up slowly, Put his arms around the first man; started to walk.…

[surrealism]

Feeding by Steven Cline, 2016. Collage.

[surrealism]

Guardiano by Sergio Sarri, 1970. Acrylic on canvas, 31½ × 31½ inches. Robilant + Voena, London, U.K.

[surrealism]

Convict the Impossible by Roberto Matta, 1947. Oil on canvas, 66 × 55.3 cm. Robilant + Voena, London, U.K.

[surrealism]

Untitled by Yves Tanguy, 1947. Gouache, decalcomania and pencil on tinted paper, 47.5 × 31.5 cm. Omer Tiroche Gallery, London, U.K.

[surrealism]

La Lune Offensée (The Injured Moon)

by Charles Baudelaire, 1961; translated by Robert Lowell

Oh Moon, discreetly worshipped by our sires, still riding through your high blue countries, still trailed by the shining harem of your stars, old Cynthia, the lamp of our retreats…

The lovers sleep open-mouthed! When they breathe, they show the white enamel of their teeth. The writer breaks his teeth on his work-sheets, the vipers couple under the hot hill.

Dressen your yellow hood, do you peruse your boy from night to dawn, till the sun climbs skyward where dim Endymion dissapears?

"I see your mother, Child of these poor times, crushed to her mirror by the heavy years. She cunningly powders the breast that nourished you."

[surrealism]

La mort du juste (The Death of the Just) by Stanislao Lepri, 1949. Oil on panel, 21⅝ x 18⅛ inches. Gallery of Surrealism, New York City, NY.

[surrealism]

La liberté détruite par l'absence (Freedom is Destroyed by Absence) by Max Ernst, 1969. Oil and mixed media on panel, 46.5 × 38.8 cm. Nahmad Projects London, U.K.

[surrealism]

La eta ricordo di de Chirico by Bona Tibertelli de Pisis-Pieyre de Mandiargues, between 1951-1959. Acrylic on canvas, 25⅝ x 36¼ inches. Gallery of Surrealism, New York City, NY.

[surrealism]

Sensible Ellipse of Lost Origin by Avis Newman, 1985-6. Acrylic paint, cotton gauze, and polyvinyl acetate resin on canvas, 2.78 x 4.01 meters. Tate, London, U.K.

From Tate.org:

The images combine traces of recognisable elements, including human body parts, bird shapes and paleolithic symbols. The artist has described the title of this work as 'a thought concerning origination, the fundamentals of image making and the origins of memory. It was ironic in that origin is illusory, not actual or substantial. Retrieving it is an impossible desire'.

[surrealism]

Reborn Sounds of Childhood Dreams I by Ibrahim El-Salahi, 1961–5. Enamel paint and oil paint on damouriya, 2.588 X 2.6 Meters. Tate Modern, London, U.K.

From Tate.org:

In Reborn Sounds of Childhood Dreams I 1961–5 ghostly figures with stretched heads and hollow eyes emerge from a yellow ground. The figures merge into, and out of, one another. Limbs blend into arabesques and heads are topped with crescents, while white over-painting blurs the distinction between abstract form, pattern and figure. The square format, sober palette, deliberate drips and intentional wrinkling of the paint surface are all characteristic of El-Salahi’s work from this period. While the heads of the figures recall African masks, the artist has also suggested that the ‘elongated, black-eyed, glittering facial shapes might represent the veils our mothers and grandmothers used to wear in public, or the faces of the drummers and tambourine players I had seen circling wildly during funeral ceremonies and chants in praise of Allah’ (Ibrahim El-Salahi, ‘The Artist in His Own Words’, in Hassan 2013, p.84).

[surrealism]

Tentacles of Memory by Mark Rothko, ca. 1945-1946. Watercolor and ink on paper, 21¾ x 30 inches. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.