9 major surrealist artists

The German Max Ernst is considered one of the most important artists of surrealism. He was one of the first to make use of Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytical dream theories. He tried not to control himself, but to paint as freely as possible. He believed that was the only way he could find the roots of his creativity and free his emotions.

The paintings of the Belgian artist Rene Magritte are characterized by a special play of text and visuals. One of his most famous works portrays a pipe, but is called "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" (This is not a pipe): The picture is not reality, but only an image of it. This back and forth also characterizes other works in which apples, bowler hats or other objects are depicted.

The Mexican artist is one of the most influential women within the surrealist movement. But Kahlo, who is best known for her numerous self-portraits, never considered herself a surrealist painter. According to her own statements, she did not paint dreams, but simply her own reality, which was marked by a difficult private life and long illness.

No list of surrealist artists is complete without Spaniard Salvador Dali. One of the most influential artists of the 20th century, he was known for his flamboyant personality and technical skill. In the late 1920s, he created one of the most famous works of surrealism with "The permanence of memory," which depicted disintegrating clocks.

The paintings of the Catalonian Joan Miro have been reproduced millions of times as posters, postcards or calendars. Sleeping was part of his work process. It has been said that the visions he developed in his dreams were the sources of his inspiration. However he not only created paintings and sculptures, but also wrote poems himself, lines of which appear in his works.

Another important surrealist artist was the American Dorothea Tanning. In 1936 she was introduced to surrealism through an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and shortly thereafter began to paint surrealist pictures herself. Tanning, who was married to Max Ernst from 1946, created dreamscape-like paintings that she saw as pointing towards deeper truths.

Until 2011, Mexican artist Leonora Carrington was one of the last surviving members of the surrealist movement of the 1930s. Carrington was known for exploring female sensibility and aspects of female sexuality in her works. Her creative output as an independent surrealist was often overshadowed by her affair with Max Ernst.

Marcel Duchamp is regarded as having crossed borders within surrealism and at the same time is one of the masterminds who brought mass produced, often utilitarian objects into the museum like bottle dryers or urinals and calling them "Readymades." The concept of chance also played a major role in his art.

The Italian painter Giorgio De Chirico painted dreamlike, deserted cityscapes. Only shadows and "manichini" (manikins) appear. De Chirico also addressed dreamlike, unconscious elements by placing objects and alienated limbs in surreal co-relations to one another. The exhibition "Surreal Worlds" is being held at the Lehmbruck Museum in Duisburg until May 7, 2023.