How did Sigmund Freud’s ideas influence Surrealist artists and writers?

Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theories were foundational to Surrealism, providing the movement with its core philosophical framework. Surrealists viewed the unconscious mind—a concept popularized by Freud—as the primary source of human imagination and creative power.12

Led by André Breton, who published The Surrealist Manifesto in 1924, the movement sought to bridge the gap between the conscious and unconscious realms. By accessing this untapped mental space, artists and writers aimed to merge the world of dreams and fantasy with everyday reality to create an "absolute reality," or "surreality".23

To bypass the "censorship" of the conscious mind, Surrealists adopted techniques such as automatism. Poets and painters practiced spontaneous, uncensored expression—recording mental associations or creating visual images without rational control—believing these outputs revealed authentic psychic forces. This approach allowed them to explore personal fantasies and irrational thoughts, resulting in the startling, dreamlike, and often grotesque imagery that defines the movement.421