No other art movement in history has contained two artists as different as Magritte and Miro.
Shocking, witty and always entertaining, Morris’s tales illuminate the striking variation in approaches to the Surrealist philosophy, both in the artists’ work and in their lives..
The arts of Surrealism were both spectacular and international, shaped by the darkest, most irrational workings of the unconscious.
What were their personalities, their predilections, their character strengths and flaws? Did they enjoy a social life or were they loners? Were they bold eccentrics or timid recluses?Drawing on the author’s personal knowledge of the Surrealists, this book captures their life histories, idiosyncrasies and often-complex love lives, vividly illustrated with images of the artists and their works.
Instead of trying to analyse the work of the Surrealists, bestselling author and Surrealist artist Desmond Morris concentrates on them as people – as remarkable individuals.
It was a way of life – a rebellion against the establishment that had given the world the hideous slaughter of the First World War.
This is because Surrealism was not in origin an art movement, but a philosophical strategy.
No other art movement in history has contained two artists as different as Magritte and Miro
