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Some boilerplate -
Surrealism is an artistic, cultural and intellectual movement oriented toward the liberation of the mind by emphasizing the critical and imaginative faculties of the "unconscious mind" and the attainment of a dream-like state different from, "more than", and ultimately "truer" than everyday reality: the "sur-real", or "more than real."
"Centuries from now, any art that takes new paths toward a greater emancipation of the mind will be Surrealist." - Andre Breton. Also -"Surrealism is based on the belief in the superior reality of certain forms of previously neglected associations, in the omnipotence of dream, in the disinterested play of thought. It tends to ruin once and for all other psychic mechanisms and to substitute itself for them in solving all the principal problems of life."
For many surrealists, this orientation toward transcending everyday reality toward one that incorporates the imaginative and the unconscious has manifested itself in the intent to bring about personal, cultural, political and social revolution, sometimes conceived or described as a complete transformation of life by freedom, poetry, love, and sexuality. Again in the words of André Breton, generally regarded as the founder of surrealism - "Beauty will be convulsive or not at all."
The word "surreal" is often used colloquially to describe unexpected juxtapositions or use of non-sequiturs in art or dialog, particularly where such juxtapositions are presented as self-consistent.
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