What is the difference between Surrealism and Dadaism?
The Dada movement was a loose association of artists of various sorts, it was anarchic in nature and was largely a reaction to the futile destruction of Europe in the 1st World War. Surrealism was centred round the poet Andre Breton who was highly autocratic and periodically ejected artists from the “official” Surrealist coterie (Max Ernst and Salvador Dali amongst others). Breton constructed a rigid set of rules,theories and rituals that defined Surrealist behavior, theory and art. Surrealist work was as diverse in it’s methods and materials as Dadism. As far as Breton was concerned there was only one form of Surrealism.
