Surrealism

This entry contains two parts. The first and larger section is devoted to an account of Surrealism as an artistic/philosophical movement that emerged in the early twentieth century under the leadership of André Breton. This movement recommended surrealistic experience as a way of apprehending the world in the most fully realized human way. The second, smaller part of the entry, examines the term surreal as an aesthetic predicate, arguing that it applies to incongruous juxtapositions that are uncanny. It also notes the correspondence of this characterization of the predicate to the Surrealists’ characterization of surrealistic experiences.