Surrealism

Surrealism was a cultural movement in the early 1920s. It's an art genre and also a genre of
literature. Initially, surrealism was an off-shoot of the art movement called Dadaism. The art

genre is strange, intriguing, and sometime twisted. This art spread world wide. It eventually

affected many films, literature, philosophy, political practice, music, and the visual arts.

It's meant to capture the art of subconsiousness. When you look at a surreal art piece, the artist

wants you to look closely, pay attention to detail and the strangeness of it all.

Work Cited

Breton, Andre`. "What is Surrealism?" Surrealist.com. 30 Oct. 2008 .

Art Piece

This art piece is a self portrait of M.C Escher. What makes it surreal is that the hand holding the

sphere is supposed to be Escher's. But in the reflection there is no sphere. But his hand looks

like it could be holding something. In his left hand there are no art supplies. It's just Escher in a

room. At first glance you feel like there is nothing special about the piece. But look harder and

longer. In a self portrait you would think that you would see exactly what is happening at that

time, which would be Escher painting. Almost like a picture was taken with a camera. But what

you see is surrealism.

He uses only blacks, whites, and greys. The detail in his painting if amazing and dead on. The

hand looks so real, and Escher is making eye contact with his reflection. The image of the room

and Escher is round like it would be if you looked into a metal sphere. But at the same time you

would see a little more. You would see the canvas, paint brush, and paints.

If this art piece had never been painted it wouldn't matter. It's not some part of history that is

extremely important. But what people should understand about the piece is that he is trying to

toy with your mind. It's a painting you have to look at more than once. And that's what Escher's

intentions were. So if you had to look at it a few times, that's whats supposed to happen, and

Escher succeeded.

MC Escher

Maurits Cornelis Escher was born in the Dutch province of

Friesland on June 17, 1898. He was the youngest of three

sons. From 1912 to 1918 Escher attended a secondary

school in Arnhem. In 1919 he attended another school

called Haarlem School of Architecture and Decorative Art.

He only studied architecture briefly. He failed a number of

classes, partly because of a skin infection he had. So he switched to decorative arts. Escher's

teacher ,who helped him the most, was named Samuel Jessurun De Mesquita. He left school in

1922 and remained friends with Samuel.

Two years after school Escher married Jetta Umiker in Italy. They settled down in Rome until

1935 when being under Mussolini became unbearable. While they lived in Rome they had a son

who was named after Escher's father, Giorgio Arnaldo Escher. The family moved to Switzerland.

Escher was unhappy with the landscape in Switzerland so they moved again in 1937 to Ukkel.

But World War II forced the family two move once more to Baarn, the Netherlands where

Escher lived until 1970.

His better known pieces came from around this time because the weather in the Netherlands

gave him more time to focus on his art. In 1962 Escher had to undergo surgery so there were no

new art pieces from that time. In 1970 his art became more noticed. In the same year Escher

went to a retirement home for artists ,in Laren in the northern Netherlands, called Rosa-Spier

house. He died on March 27, 1972.

Work Cited

"Maurits Cornelius Escher." An introduction to art history. Artinthepicture.com. .