“Surrealism is destructive,” said Salvador Dalí. “But it destroys only what it considers to be shackles limiting our vision.” Surrealism, which began with the publication of poet André Breton’s first Surrealist Manifesto in 1924, embraced the irrational as a means of creating art and experiencing life. Inspired by the psychoanalytic theories of Sigmund Freud, the Surrealists regarded the unconscious mind as a superior and ideal state, inventing new processes and techniques to free their inner selves through art. Common themes in Surrealist art include dreams, sexual desires, childhood traumas, madness, mythology, non-Western art, and chance. While Surrealism thrived in Europe with members like René Magritte, Joan Miró, and Meret Oppenheim, the movement found a second home in Mexico after World War II with artists like Frida Kahlo, Leonora Carrington, and Roberto Matta. Surrealist masterworks continue to outperform at auction, with Miró’s Peinture (Étoile Bleue) (1963) fetching $37 million at Sotheby’s in 2012 and Magritte’s Le Principe du plaisir (1937) breaking the artist’s record with $27 million at Sotheby’s in 2018.
