What Was Art Before Surrealism?

There were many art movements in the history of art before Surrealism. Art has been around since the beginning of human history with many changes, particularly in the 20th century.

Below is a list of the different art movements that occurred before Surrealism in the 20th century. The movement is listed along with the dates, as well as a brief description of what the movement entailed.

• Fauvism (1905-1908): This movement focused on the images of contemporary life, which was indicative of the movement's heavy influence from Impressionism. Bold colors and extreme contrasts were characteristic of the period.
• Die Brucke (1905-1913): Lasting a little bit longer than Fauvism. Die Brucke thrived primarily in Germany. The artists considered themselves to be expressionists and they wanted to link the past to the future in their art work.
• Deutscher Werkbund (1907-1933): Another movement of German art, Deutscher Werkbund translates into "German Work Federation." This group of artists focused on high quality products that were mass produced. They used machine style and they got rid of functional and ornamental designs.
• Cubism (1907-1919): A very famous movement of which Pablo Picasso was a part, Cubism focused on fragmented spaces and an object seen from several different angles. The Cubists made use of their background space and considered it to be an important component of the work.
• Futurism (1909-1929): As the name suggests, this Italian movement sought to destruct the way that life was and to revolutionize society through their art. They wanted to represent speed in their artwork.
• Orphism (1911-1914): These artists sought to connect their work to other mediums, and they believed that what they did had connections outside the specific world of art in which they were in.
• Der Blaue Reiter (1911-1914): The followers of this German movement considered themselves the second part of Die Brucke. They saw more international acclaim than Die Brucke, and they focused their work on spirituality, expressionism, and abstractions.
• Cubo Futurism (1913-1915): Although this movement only lasted two years, it was a product of the two larger movements of Cubism and Futurism. They based their work off of Russian iconics, children's art, and folk art.
• Constructivism (1913-1920s): Somewhat like the German movement, artists of this period decided that they wanted to abandon the easel and choose methods of artistic expression linked to mass production.
• Suprematism (1915-1923): Artists of this period took a truly different approach. They did not believe in representing any sort of "true" figures or compositions, and their art works were entirely based upon abstractions.
• Dada (1915-1923): The name of this movement is quite interesting, as it was purely randomly selected and simply means "hobby horse." Based primarily in Western Europe and New York, these artists sought to eradicate the horrors of World War I by painting anti-rational and anti-modern pictures.
• De Stijl (1917-1931): In Dutch this term means "the style" and it was the style for quite awhile. The artists felt that art represented objectivity, and each artist felt that he or she was working with the other ones to create a spiritual and universal representation.
• Art Deco (1918-1939): Many people today are still familiar with this decorative style. This movement also relates more to graphic design involved with decorations for a home or furniture.
• Bauhaus (1919-1933): The last of the German movements on our list, this movement's name literally means "building house." The artists here were concerned with architecture, furniture, and so forth.
• Surrealism (1924-1945): Finally we get to our movement of study: surrealism. Psychoanalytic thinking and absurdity are at the heart of these works. One of the most famous pieces is The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali.

Art before Surrealism took many forms in the 20th Century. Many of these art movements are defined here on YourDictionary. The biographies of many of the leaders of the movements are included in the Encyclopeda of World Biography also here on Your Dictionary.