Difference Between Dada and Surrealism

Main Difference – Dada vs Surrealism

Dada and Surrealism are two artistic movements that began in the early 20^th century. Surrealism is a movement that developed out of Dada; this movement was also greatly influenced by Freud’s theories on ego, superego and id. This influence of Freudian theories can be identified as the main difference between Dada and Surrealism.

This article explores,

1. What is Dada?
– movement, characteristics, artists

2. What is Surrealism?
– movement, influence, characteristics, artists

3. What is the difference between Dada and Surrealism?

What is Dada

Dada or Dadaism is an artistic movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th-century, repudiating and mocking artistic and social conventions and emphasising the illogical and absurd. The time period from 1916 to 1922 was the height of this movement.

The beginning of this movement corresponds to the outbreak of the First World War. Dada was a protest against the bourgeois nationalists and colonial interests, and against intellectual and cultural conformity, which the participants of this movement felt were causes for the war.

In addition to being anti-war, it was also as anti-art movement. It ignored aesthetics, which was a major concern of the traditional art, and instead of appealing to sensibilities, it aimed to offend. Dada artists used numerous demonstrations, manifestos and exhibitions of absurdist art that were intentionally created to shock, offend and scandalise the public and the authorities.

Some of the techniques they used include

Collages – pasting pieces of paper items such as maps, tickets, etc.
Photomontages – collages made using real photographs
Assemblage – assembly of everyday objects to produce meaningful/ meaningless objects of war
Readymade objects – using manufactured objects as art

Despite this negativistic nature, Dadaism influenced some important movements such as surrealism, pop art, punk rock, as well as some contemporary art styles. Antonin Artaud, Tristan Tzara, Raoul Hausmann, Johannes Baader and Max Ernst are some followers of this movement.

What is Surrealism

Surrealism is a movement that began in the 1920s. This movement grew out of Dadaism and was greatly influenced by the theories of Sigmund Freud.

Surrealists believed that Freud’s concepts of dreams, ego, superego and id led to the authentic self and a truer reality. They used painting techniques that allowed the unconscious to express itself and created unnerving, illogical scenes or strange creatures using everyday objects.

Characteristics of Surrealism

Incorporation of spontaneity
Exploration of unconsciousness and dream as a true form of reality
Expression of sexuality, violence, ecstasy, decay, etc.
Focus on the irrational, mythological, and mysterious

Jean Arp, Hans Bellmer, Louise Bourgeois, Leonora Carrington, Joseph Cornell and Salvadore Dalí are some of the most well-known artists of surrealism.

Definition

Dada is an artistic movement that flouted conventional aesthetic and cultural values by producing works marked by nonsense, travesty, and incongruity.

Surrealism is an artistic movement that attempts to express the workings of the subconscious and is characterised by fantastic imagery and incongruous juxtaposition of subject matter.