The Key Characteristics of Surrealism

·        The exploration of the dream and unconsciousness as a valid form of reality, inspired by Sigmund Freud's writings.

·         A willingness to depict images of perverse sexuality, scatology, decay and violence.

·         The desire to push against the boundaries of socially acceptable behaviors and traditions in order to discover pure thought and the artist's true nature.

·         The incorporation of chance and spontaneity.

·         The influence of revolutionary 19th century poets, such as Charles Baudelaire, Arthur Rimbaud and Isidore Ducasse.

·         Emphasis on the mysterious, marvelous, mythological and irrational in an effort to make art ambiguous and strange.

·         Fundamentally, Surrealism gave artists permission to express their most basic drives: hunger, sexuality, anger, fear, dread, ecstasy, and so forth.

·         Exposing these uncensored feelings as if in a dream still exists in many form of art to this day.

·         Two stylistic schools: Biomorphism and Naturalistic Surrealism.

Source: http://arthistory.about.com/od/modernarthistory/a/Surrealism-Art-History-101-Basics.htm