FEATURES
Instead of polished painting techniques, Dadaists preferred this kind of paper-based, ripped-up art.
What is collage?
This 1917 ready-made porcelain urinal, submitted under the pseudonym R. Mutt, was rejected by the Society of Independent Artists and became a symbol of anti-art.
What is Fountain by Marcel Duchamp?
This Romanian-born poet and thinker was the founder and public face of Dada.
Who is Tristan Tzara?
This movement believed "Dada means nothing," reflecting its distrust of meaning and authority.
What is Dada?
Dada was born in this neutral country during the trauma of World War I.
What is Switzerland?
Dada performances often included poetry where multiple voices did this simultaneously.
What is speaking/shouting at the same time?
This 1926 frottage drawing from Max Ernst’s Natural History series used wood textures to reveal unconscious forms
What is Caesar’s Palette by Max Ernst?
He dressed in a cubist costume and performed the nonsensical poem Karawane at Cabaret Voltaire.
Who is Hugo Ball?
Surrealism aimed to unlock this hidden part of the mind, often associated with dreams.
What is the unconscious?
This war tactic, where soldiers were forced to climb out of trenches into gunfire, deeply influenced the Dada mindset.
What is the "over the top" trench assault?
Magritte’s The Treason of Images depicts this object but insists “This is not” it.
What is a pipe?
This 1937 oil painting by Salvador Dalí features a mirrored Narcissus figure and a hand holding an egg-flower hybrid.
What is The Metamorphosis of Narcissus?
This Berlin Dadaist created ABCD Portrait of the Artist and was known for sound poetry.
Who is Raoul Hausmann?
Dada often mocked propaganda by imitating its styles and including obviously fake quotes, such as attributing dessert advice to this Greek philosopher.
Who is Aristotle?
This concept, promoted by Freud and embraced by surrealists, suggested dreams could reflect unconscious desires.
What is psychoanalysis?
In Miro's paintings, the background was often this scumbled hue, evoking oceanic, dreamlike states.
What is blue?
This 1921 altered object, a flat iron with nails glued to the base, turned a domestic tool into something violent and useless.
What is Gift by Man Ray?
Known for their stitched and geometric abstractions, she collaborated with her husband Hans Arp.
Who is Sophie Taeuber-Arp?
The Surrealists were fascinated by this mental state, often viewed as a creative force rather than a disorder.
What is madness (or insanity)?
The 1920 Berlin Dada Fair scandalized viewers with a pig’s head dressed in this kind of uniform.
What is a Prussian military uniform?
Breton claimed that the best surrealist images came from this mental “collision” of unrelated things.
What is juxtaposition (or unexpected combinations)?
This 1930 oil painting by Magritte places mismatched words beneath simple object drawings, parodying educational flashcards.
What is The Key of Dreams by René Magritte?
A woman surrealist who photographed Hitler’s bathtub and appeared in Vogue — as model and war correspondent.
Who is Lee Miller?
The goal of this surrealist literary technique was to write or draw without conscious control or censorship.
What is automatism?
Dada artists admired African ritual objects and masks, often treating them as more authentic than this tradition of European fine art.
What is academic/classical art?