Harris defines surrealism as an “avant-garde movement created in the early 1920s by the French writer André Breton.” He also states that Breton's definition of surrealism was "a pure psychic automatism, by which one means expressing verbally, in writing or in any other way, the true process of thought. It is the dictation of thought, free from the exercise of reason.” , and any aesthetic or moral concerns. He continues to explain that surrealism is "the name primarily of a group of painters whose strange and sometimes disturbing images became and remain - ... - extremely popular." (2006, p. 313) In the following essay, I will discuss a work from the interwar period and a work from the postwar period. The work I have chosen to discuss from the interwar period is The Lugubrious Game. This was painted in 1929 by Salvador Dali (born 1904 – died 1989), a prominent Spanish surrealist. The work from the post-war period that I have chosen to discuss is Jabberwocky, made in 1971 by Czech filmmaker and artist Jan Svankmajer (b. 1934), a self-described surrealist. part oil painting and part collage on cardboard. It depicts a large collection of objects and stones raised into the air above a staircase. These items include a collection of hats, items that appear to be shells, items that appear sexual in nature or depicting genitals, an umbrella, a grasshopper, and a hand holding a cigarette. There is also a selection of portraits, including a large profile in the center of the painting, which leads to an area featuring multi-colored swirls and a human behind. In the background of the painting there is a... middle of paper... obviously contradictory and low," (Biles, 2007, p.75) because even when we, as the viewer, are seeing something that is considered beautiful, in reality, still hides something ugly under the surface In conclusion, both in the work of the interwar period and in that of the post-war period, we see. that surrealist art tends to juxtapose the poetic and the beautiful and the abject and the unpleasant Works Cited • Adamowicz, E. (2003). .ac.uk/aurifex/issue2/. adamowicz.html. Last accessed January 18, 2014.• Biles, J. (2007) Ecce Monstrum: Georges Bataille and the Sacrifice of Form, United States: Fordham University Press.• Harris , J. (2006) History of art: the key concepts, London: Routledge.• Noys, B. (2000) Georges Bataille: a critical introduction, London: Pluto Press.