The V&A's major spring exhibition, Surreal Things (open until 22 July), is the first to explore the influence of Surrealism on the world of design. Surrealism began in the early 1920s as a literary movement under the leadership of the French writer Andre Breton. Surrealist artists sought to fuse everyday reality with the experience of dreams and the subconscious to create a 'super' reality. Surrealist images often combine logically unconnected objects using a meticulous, almost photographic technique, sometimes evoking a dreamlike quality. Other artists explored the unconscious mind by using techniques of 'automatism'. The 'reality' of the subconscious mind and the world of dreams were preferred over the matter of fact reality and logic of everyday life. Major exponents were Salvador Dali, Max Ernst, Jean Arp and Joan Miro.
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