surrealism

1924 - 1950 european avantgarde movement, favoring the visual imagery of subconscious experiences - influenced from symbolism , dadaism and metaphysical painting 

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A term that is much abused and misused nowadays. It was coined in 1917, but was really given birth by the French poet André Breton in 1924 when he defined it as "pure psychic automatism by which it is intended to express..... the true function of thought. Thought dictated in the absence of all control exerted by reason, and outside all aesthetic or moral preoccupations." Surrealism followed hard on the heels of Dada. It was a psychological approach to Dada art. It went in two directions in the 1920's, one the dream world of painters like Salvador Dali which were painted in precise realist style, the other, was the work of painters such as Joan Miró and André Masson. These were loosely drawn figures or form shown in shallow space. The last official surrealist painter was Ashile Gorky working in New York. Other painters of note are Jean Arp, Max Ernst, Man Ray, Yves Tanguy, Remedios Varo, Pablo Picasso, and René Magritte.