Literary works – dadaism, surrealism

1 The piece of art that has been chosen from the Dada period is that of Hanna Hoch’s “ Cut with the Dada Kitchen Knife through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany” noted at the end of this analysis in figure 1. 0. Likewise, the piece of art that has been chosen from the Surrealist period is that of Salvador Dali’s “ The Metamorphosis of Narcissus” featured at the conclusion of this analysis in figure 2. 0.
2
The later work, that of Dali’s The Metamorphosis of Narcissus relates to the first work in that it incorporates a veritable smorgasbord of activity. Rather than just focusing upon a singular action, Dali’s image has an infinite complexity in layers of details, motions, and emotions. This was of course attributed to the art world via the period of Dadaism that immediately followed the disillusionment and sense of hopelessness created by the First World War. As a result of the widespread slaughter of humanity on such an industrial scale, individuals lost faith in the fact that there could be a singular truth or that any one idea or emotion was pure and true. As such, Dadaism, and subsequently Surrealism, emerged as a means of defining a new and horrifying world; full of paradox and confusion.
3
The later of these two, Surrealism, helped to bring the meaning back to the art world. Although it was still fragmented and expressed human ideals and emotions in a complex manner, by attributing complex layers of meaning to each, a sense of normalcy returned to art that helped the viewer explain some of the actions or emotions depicted therein.
Figure 1. 0
Figure 2. 0