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The apple sits atop a chair. Dream-like, unexpected images flood your thoughts as you’re watching your soon-to-be dinner spin round and round in the microwave. As though a boat caught in a whirlpool, it’s waiting for its demise. Though perhaps you shouldn’t eat boats; they’re not known to be very nutritious.

A sense of doom is in the air. And today we are looking into surrealism and dream-like, unexpected images that people have shared within a Facebook group called “Accidental Surrealism.” Bored Panda has covered the intriguing and mind-bending images from this group before; here is the link to one, and a link to another article.

But is there a need to despair? Dear reader, as you’re scrolling through this list, trying to convince yourself that these images haven’t been painted or photoshopped, make sure to upvote your favorites and leave some comments in your wake. There is also a bit of surrealist writing that I myself took the liberty of sharing with you in a silly, less obvious way. Can you figure it out?

When all we are is mounds of flair. Let’s get into it!

More info: Facebook

#1

Image credits: Andres Felipe Ordoñez

I bite the apple just like Eve. Oh silly girl, you should never accept sweets from a stranger; guess your father didn’t tell you that… Just that you should steer clear of one tree. But forbiddance creates temptation that we then work hard to conceal within our subconscious minds. However, one artistic movement became the key to these shut doors.

All those years ago. At least 122 years, if we are to be contemplatively specific. Creative thinkers have always toyed with reality, but in the early 20th century Surrealism emerged as a philosophic and cultural movement. As discussed on ThoughtCo, there were multiple elements that inspired its birth.

#2

Image credits: Courtney Archuletta

#3

Image credits: John Kornas

The same snakes tell their tale. Jackie Craven, art and architecture expert, argues that Marxist ideas sparked a disdain for capitalist society and a thirst for social rebellion. The writings of Sigmund Freud suggested that higher forms of truth might be found in the subconscious. Moreover, the tragedy of World War I spurred a desire to break from tradition and explore new forms of expression.

Of love, and gore, and more. Surrealism allows individuals to tap into their subconscious, and to process their internalized thoughts. For many, such explorations led to the creation of shocking, graphic and provocative imagery. As discussed on Tate.com, Surrealism aims to revolutionize the human experience, balancing a rational vision of life with one of the unconscious and dream-like in the search for freedom from imposed values and norms.

#4

Image credits: Awkward Family Photos

#5

Image credits: Wiktoria Kościańska

#6

Image credits: Chill Tent

I lose myself towards the pit. However, Surrealism first started as a literary movement. Louis Aragon (1897–1982), Paul Éluard (1895–1952), and other poets experimented with automatic writing, or automatism, to free their imaginations. What that involves is losing conscious thought and writing whatever comes to mind; doesn’t mean it’s purposeless or nonsensical, though.

Of hell, they say, I say of mirth. A devout Marxist, André Breton believed that art springs from a collective spirit: The real functioning of thought and absence of all control exercised by reason. Philosopher Peter Carruthers insists that conscious thought, judgment and volition are illusions altogether, arising from processes of which we are forever unaware.

#7

Image credits: Jasmin Marty

#8

Image credits: ITALY & Italian Food

#9

Image credits: Peter Higgins

For having tasted flesh of pleasure. It’s quite ironic that what we call an uncontrolled and chaotic process is actually in charge of our controlled demeanors and actions. A study by Ezequiel Morsella and colleagues, published in the journal Behavioral and Brain Sciences, showed that the unconscious mind is the one in charge of any potential thoughts one may have at any given moment.

I thus become light as a feather. Morsella and his colleagues named it the “Passive Frame Theory,” stating that nearly all of the brain’s work is conducted in different lobes and regions at the unconscious level, completely without one’s knowledge.

#10

Snowfall in Hokkaido, Japan

Image credits: ToMasz Królik

#11

Image credits: Jake Alvarez

#12

Image credits: Sam Marner

A chair will catch me as I fall. When the processing is done and there is a decision to make or a physical act to perform, that very small job is served up to the conscious mind, which executes the work and then flatters itself that it was in charge all the time.

It’ll creak in protest, not before. Without the Surrealists, it is impossible to imagine the subsequent history of cinema, advertising, the pop art and psychedelic movements. As discussed in The Irish Times, the word “surreal” so often replaces other terms—bizarre, strange, unusual, extraordinary, fantastical, absurd—in everyday vocabulary, showing how completely it has saturated our reality.

#13

Image credits: Zach Albers

#14

Image credits: Jason Birch

#15

Image credits: Daniel Heriberto Palencia Arreola

My shape releases all its meaning. Although Surrealist works are often mysterious and confusing, they’re also awe-inspiring. From opening our minds to different possibilities, to expressing complex thoughts, stances, and opinions on certain subjects, Surrealism is here to stay. I highly recommend you try creating something on impulse and see how that goes!

Red, and round, and small, and fleeting. Dear reader, as we begin the year 2023, I would like to encourage you to keep upvoting your favorite surreal images, leaving comments along the way. I hope to see you in the next one and I bid you all a very lovely day or night!