DOI Heft:
Obsah
DOI Artikel:Bažant, Jan: Surrealist's dreams and classical tradition
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52446#0084
ŠTÚDIE ! ARTICLES
ARS 48, 2015, 1
Surrealist’s Dreams and Classical Tradition
Jan BAŽANT
Surrealism, n. Psychic automatism in itspure state, by which oneproposes to express ... the
actualfunctioning of thought. Dictated by thought, in the absence of any control exercised by
reason, exempt from any aesthetic or moral concern ... Surrealism is based on the belief in the
superior reality of certain forms of previously neglected associations, in the omnipotence of dream,
in the disinterestedplay of thought. It tends to ruin once and for ail other psychic mechanisms
and to substitute itself for them in solving ail theprincipalproblème of life.
André Breton, Manifeste of Surrealism, 1924'
Surrealist painters distanced themselves ostenta-
tiously from rationality, éducation, and the Western
classical tradition. They mocked its aesthetics and
formai répertoire, but their paintings were embedded
in a conceptual framework inherited from ancient
Greece and Rome and abounded in classical allu-
sions. It is significant that Sigmund Freud, whose
teachings inspired surrealists enormously, was a
passionate collecter of classical antiquities. His col-
lection, as Louise A. Hitchcock stressed, was “no
doubt, also a symbol of his achievement, just as in
the estrangement he felt when visiting the Acropolis,
for Freud, these were symbols of a place that had
seemed unattainable in the poverty of his youth. For
many, the study of classics continues to be a symbol
of status and achievement.”1 2 Freud was, however,
1 Quoted after: The Sources of Surrealism. Art in Context. Ed. N.
MATHESON. Aldershot 2006, p. 302 (translation R. Seaver,
H. R. Lane).
2 HITCHCOCK, L. A.: Theory for Classics. A Student’s Guide.
Oxford 2008, p. 9.
3 There is no comprehensive treatment of Freud and Warburg,
cf. HARDING, K.: Warburgs ‘Revenants’ — psycho-ikono-
graphisch gezähmt. In: Kritische Berichte 18, 1990, pp. 27-37;
HARDING, K.: Freuds Leonardo. Eine Auseinandersetzung mit
impressed not only by the ancient Greek and Roman
art he collected, but also by the methodology of the
pertinent scientific discipline, classical archaeology.
There was an inner affinity between psychoanaly-
sis and classical archaeology. It stemmed from the
fact that both disciplines were based on firm belief
in the presence of the past in the present. In Freud’s
time, classical archaeologists still believed that the
ancient Greek and Roman past dictated the shape
of the world’s future. Freud founded psychoanalysis
by defining man as a being that continuously reacts
to the events of his or her personal history. At the
same time, art historian Aby Warburg founded a
new discipline, the study of the classical tradition
that analyses those éléments of European culture
that dérivé from the ancient world.3 It must not be
psychoanalytischen Theorien der Gegenwart. München 1998; Wie
sich Gefühle Ausdruck verschaffen — Emotionen in Nahsicht. Eds.
K. HARDING - A. KRAUSE-WAHL. Taunusstein 2008;
ZUMBUSCH, C.: „Gesteigerte Gesten.“ Pathos und Patho-
logie bei Freud und Warburg. In: Übung und Affekt: Aspekte
des Körpergedächtnisses. Eds. B. BANASCH — G. BUTZER.
Berlin 2007, pp. 269-289; PICHLER, W. et al.: Metamor-
phosen des Flussgottes und der Nymphe: Aby Warburgs
Denk-Haltungen und die Psychoanalyse. In: Die Couch. Vom
Denken im Tiegen. Ed. L. MARINELLI. München 2006, pp.
161-186.
82
ARS 48, 2015, 1
Surrealist’s Dreams and Classical Tradition
Jan BAŽANT
Surrealism, n. Psychic automatism in itspure state, by which oneproposes to express ... the
actualfunctioning of thought. Dictated by thought, in the absence of any control exercised by
reason, exempt from any aesthetic or moral concern ... Surrealism is based on the belief in the
superior reality of certain forms of previously neglected associations, in the omnipotence of dream,
in the disinterestedplay of thought. It tends to ruin once and for ail other psychic mechanisms
and to substitute itself for them in solving ail theprincipalproblème of life.
André Breton, Manifeste of Surrealism, 1924'
Surrealist painters distanced themselves ostenta-
tiously from rationality, éducation, and the Western
classical tradition. They mocked its aesthetics and
formai répertoire, but their paintings were embedded
in a conceptual framework inherited from ancient
Greece and Rome and abounded in classical allu-
sions. It is significant that Sigmund Freud, whose
teachings inspired surrealists enormously, was a
passionate collecter of classical antiquities. His col-
lection, as Louise A. Hitchcock stressed, was “no
doubt, also a symbol of his achievement, just as in
the estrangement he felt when visiting the Acropolis,
for Freud, these were symbols of a place that had
seemed unattainable in the poverty of his youth. For
many, the study of classics continues to be a symbol
of status and achievement.”1 2 Freud was, however,
1 Quoted after: The Sources of Surrealism. Art in Context. Ed. N.
MATHESON. Aldershot 2006, p. 302 (translation R. Seaver,
H. R. Lane).
2 HITCHCOCK, L. A.: Theory for Classics. A Student’s Guide.
Oxford 2008, p. 9.
3 There is no comprehensive treatment of Freud and Warburg,
cf. HARDING, K.: Warburgs ‘Revenants’ — psycho-ikono-
graphisch gezähmt. In: Kritische Berichte 18, 1990, pp. 27-37;
HARDING, K.: Freuds Leonardo. Eine Auseinandersetzung mit
impressed not only by the ancient Greek and Roman
art he collected, but also by the methodology of the
pertinent scientific discipline, classical archaeology.
There was an inner affinity between psychoanaly-
sis and classical archaeology. It stemmed from the
fact that both disciplines were based on firm belief
in the presence of the past in the present. In Freud’s
time, classical archaeologists still believed that the
ancient Greek and Roman past dictated the shape
of the world’s future. Freud founded psychoanalysis
by defining man as a being that continuously reacts
to the events of his or her personal history. At the
same time, art historian Aby Warburg founded a
new discipline, the study of the classical tradition
that analyses those éléments of European culture
that dérivé from the ancient world.3 It must not be
psychoanalytischen Theorien der Gegenwart. München 1998; Wie
sich Gefühle Ausdruck verschaffen — Emotionen in Nahsicht. Eds.
K. HARDING - A. KRAUSE-WAHL. Taunusstein 2008;
ZUMBUSCH, C.: „Gesteigerte Gesten.“ Pathos und Patho-
logie bei Freud und Warburg. In: Übung und Affekt: Aspekte
des Körpergedächtnisses. Eds. B. BANASCH — G. BUTZER.
Berlin 2007, pp. 269-289; PICHLER, W. et al.: Metamor-
phosen des Flussgottes und der Nymphe: Aby Warburgs
Denk-Haltungen und die Psychoanalyse. In: Die Couch. Vom
Denken im Tiegen. Ed. L. MARINELLI. München 2006, pp.
161-186.
82