What is Surrealism?: Selected Writings

Andre Breton was born in Normandy, France on 19, 1896 and died on September 28, 1966. Breton was a poet, novelist, philosophical essayist, and art critic. He is considered to be the father of surrealism. From World War I to the 1940s, Breton was at the forefront of the numerous avant-garde activities that centered in Paris. Breton's influence on the art and literature of the twentieth century has been enormous. Picasso, Derain, Magritte, Giacometti, Cocteau, Eluard, and Gracq are among the many whose work was affected by his thinking. From 1927 to 1933, Breton was a member of the Communist party, but thereafter he opposed communism. His writings include the first Surrealist Manifesto (Manifeste du surréalisme) of 1924, in which he defined surrealism as "pure psychic automatism". He also wrote Nadja in 1928. Breton died in 1966 at 70 and was buried in the Cimetière des Batignolles in Paris.