Representing the Unconscious

            Surrealism in its purist state is the representation of the mind, that of the flow of ideas, conceptions and memories. Surrealism aims to represent what cannot be represented, aims to capture something that is just beyond the reach of the conscious mind. Andre Breton aims to lay the foundation of Surrealism in the First and Second Manifestos of Surrealism, primarily in this conversation the First Manifesto will be referred to. Breton lays out the aim of Surrealism to represent in literature and in art a true manifestation of thought, thought without control and without rational boundaries, thought that is experienced in the dream state. Breton argues that these thoughts and these conceptions should be and can be realized through the flowing of thoughts onto paper, the representations of dreams, which while dreaming man does not find to be so insane, but while awake seem to be unfathomable and irrational. Breton defines surrealism as, “Pure psychic automatism by which it is intended to express, either verbally or in writing, the true function of thought. Thought dictated in the absence of all control exerted by reason, and outside all aesthetic or moral preoccupations.” Though Breton makes large claims that surrealism is the key to unlocking the dream state, and that this can be represented in various forms did not go uncontested.

            Max Morise and Pierre Naville both critiqued the idea of surrealism, and respond to Breton’s manifesto with the question, can the unconscious truly be represented? Pierre Naville simply states, “Everybody knows that there is no surrealist painting.” Naville argues that the unconscious cannot be represented, at least not in painting. Is this true? Can the unconscious be represented in painting? Can the unconscious be represented in any medium? Max Morise addresses the representation of the unconscious in his critique The Enchanted Eyes (translated from French) and posits that the unconscious and the surrealist goal of representing it can be realized perhaps in writing, but not in pictures. Morise suggests that this goal to represent the psychological state and the seemingly irrational dream state can perhaps be realized, however the images of dreams and memories are inherently tainted by the conscious mind. Morise also states that stream of thought cannot be viewed statically and is ever changing. Morise brings to light the inherent relationship between pictorial systems and ideas, pointing to Picasso’s use of pictorial language. Morise even states that cubism is in way “automatic” in line with that of surrealism. Keeping in mind Picasso’s Ma Jolie, 1911 pictorial language is challenged and the intellectual relationship removed in a sense. This precursor to surrealism took the idea of representation and turned it on its head in an effort to deconstruct pictorial language. In a similar way surrealists aim to represent what has not been represented, to represent thought and ideas without control.

            The aim of surrealism is bold, and in fact Breton’s argument, his call to represent that which is inherently not representable, to imagine and produce what in fact has never before been seen with a conscious mind is almost oxymoronic. Who is to say whether or not Dali's The Persistence of Memory, 1931 is truly a representation of his unconscious mind?Morise makes a stand against Breton in the sense that he claims the unconscious is immediately tainted by the conscious, and though Breton argues that the artist should open up their mind to all possibilities and that the unconscious mind can conceptualize everything, even those things that remain in memory from dreams are tainted by the conscious mind, tainted by rational, by society, by the ever changing nature of the human mind. So I posit that the unconscious can only be represented in part, or rather can only be represented in images to an extent, the conception of dreams a remnant of memory almost gone combined with the fluid nature of the human mind and perception of the individual lack certainty in creating a painting. Surrealism sets out to represent the unconscious and realize dreams that overcome rationality and transcend the already set pictorial language we know. 

Sources:

Breton, Andre. "The Manifesto of Surrealism." The Autobiography of Surrealism. Ed. Marcel Jean. New York: Viking, 1980. 117-32. Print.

Morise, Max. "The Enchanted Eyes." The Autobiography of Surrealism. Ed. Marcel Jean. New York: Viking, 1980. 193-96. Print.