Surrealism defined with images of examples from art history, great quotations, and links to other resources.

Surrealism originated in the late 1910s and early '20s as a literary movement that experimented with a new mode of expression called automatic writing, or automatism, which sought to release the unbridled imagination of the subconscious.

Considering the absolute inventiveness, and the magisterial incitement to exploration and discovery that one encounters in the visual works of Matta, it is obvious that he was the greatest painter of the 20th Century, and most likely of the 21st as well. It is the pure explosion of a mysterious and magical knowledge that excites, and undermines the otherwise mundane and aesthetic history of "art" with it's boring reasons for being. Matta stands alone and points the way...

For over fifty years, San Francisco Bay Area surrealist painter Alonso G. Smith has diligently addressed numerous social, psychological and political issues through his highly satirical style and unique color palate. His works challenge us to carefully examine what lies hidden behind the obvious in our surrounding world. Born 1917 in Palo Alto, CA, Alonso unexpectedly passed away in June, 1996.

The art and thoughts of J. Karl Bogart