What was the main focus of Surrealism?

The main focus of Surrealism was delving into the unconscious mind to confront and grapple with the horrors and uncertainty of post-World War I Europe. Poet and critic André Breton, a leader of the Surrealist movement who authored the 1924 Surrealist Manifesto, called this approach “a violent reaction against the impoverishment and sterility of thought processes that resulted from centuries of rationalism.” Surrealist art emerged in the 1920s with dreamlike and uncanny imagery guided by a variety of techniques, such as automatic drawing, which can be likened to a stream of consciousness, to channel psychological experiences. Find a large selection of Surrealist art on 1stDibs.