Dreams, the Female Gaze, and the City of Paris: Urban Landscapes through the Writings of the Surrealist Movement

Bárbara Barreiro León

doi:10.5209/esim.78935

Abstract

From the time of the Renaissance, treaties on architecture, odes to the arts, and the study of their canons through written sources, have served to defend, emphasise, or proclaim the validity of different artistic forms and styles. In this way, programmes and manifestos have reinforced the character of organisations and movements through their fundamental ideas. The artistic Avantgardes have thus used this literary resource to lay the theoretical foundations for their future artistic contributions, being able to justify without any qualifications their most extravagant occurrences. The Avant-garde manifesto shall therefore be considered a literary contribution written in the first place for the subsequent development of the artistic and creative activity of the group or school. The Surrealist Movement generated a lot of written work because the founders, André Breton, Louis Aragon, and Philippe Soupault, were writers. Some of these texts included the Movement’s two manifestos, periodicals such as Le Surréalisme au service de la révolution, Littérature, or Minotaure, and individual writings that were penned by Breton and Aragon. This study will relate the Surrealist written work with the Movement’s idea of the city and its urban imaginary.

Highlights

Much has been said, written, and researched about Surrealism throughout the History of Contemporary Art since it is one of the main Avant-garde Movements and has interested theorists, researchers and even the general public
We cannot deny the interest that urban practice and architecture regarding the city generated for the Surrealists
From outings to experience drift, to debates over whether Paris monuments should be preserved or not, the Surrealists saw in architecture a perfect setting for their artistic practice, especially for literature and photography

Summary

Introduction

Written, and researched about Surrealism throughout the History of Contemporary Art since it is one of the main Avant-garde Movements and has interested theorists, researchers and even the general public. We will keep our study focused on studying the surrealist group in Paris and the activity they carried out in the 1920s and 1930s. In this way, and despite what it is already known about the Surrealist Movement, we must understand different ideas to delve into more specific concepts about image and urban planning in this theoretical case. It is important to follow these steps since, having not carried out actual architectural work, we must use the Movement’s theories and writings to understand some of their practices and the relationship that the Surrealist Movement has had with the city and Parisian urban planning. The sociological study of works and events that occurred in our geographical and chronological framework will provide us with a broad spectrum of study to understand the importance of society in the evolution of cities and the architectural and urban elements that are part of her

Surrealist Manifesto and Theory

Literary sources for an Urban Understanding

Conclusions