The European Surrealism
If we asked the pioneers how they saw themselves at Surrealism’s inception a century ago, we’d likely hear conflicting answers. Emerging from the horrors of World War I, young individuals scarred by the trenches sought to overthrow the old world they blamed for the carnage. They questioned everything—politics, religion, science, even Reason itself, which they claimed "creates monsters."
In 1916, this defiance birthed Dada, an avant-garde movement of aesthetic provocation that dismantled artistic norms and scrutinized past movements. Figures like Francis Picabia, Tristan Tzara, and Raoul Hausmann led radical "anti-artists" active in Zurich, Paris, Berlin, and beyond. Dada’s works stirred the art world but faded by 1924, giving rise to Surrealism.
André Breton, a former Dadaist, framed Surrealism as a revolt against reality, famously calling it “a cry of the spirit breaking its chains!” Many Dadaists, including Man Ray and Max Ernst, joined this movement, which embraced the liberation of thought through dreams and Freud’s psychoanalysis. Rooted in the crises of Western civilization and the traumas of war and pandemic, Surrealism reflected a world in collapse.
Centered in Paris, it spread globally, influencing art, literature, theater, and more. Its zenith in the 1920s-30s waned after World War II, with the movement declining by the 1960s.
Surrealism in Greece
Surrealism arrived in Greece with a slight delay due to the ongoing wars (World War I, the Greco-Turkish War of 1919-1922). As the interpreter of modern Greek literature, Mario Vitti, aptly observed, Surrealism would reach Greece in a mutilated form:
"Only as an individual revolution, the liberation of the subconscious forces, the imposition of dreams, while the program for social revolution remains in the dark."
As a movement, Surrealism had a significant impact on the artists and writers of the interwar period. Greek Surrealist poets modeled their writing style on European Surrealists, especially the French, with examples such as Paul Éluard, Louis Aragon, René Crevel, Roger Vitrac, and Benjamin Péret. Greek Surrealism is often confused with the Generation of '30s, though not all the writers, poets, and visual artists of that generation followed the Surrealist style.
An early example of Surrealism in Greek literature is the poetry collection Stou Glytomou to Chazi by Theodoros Dorrοs, published in Paris in 1930, and the following year, the collection Strofi by Giorgos Seferis, which shows significant Surrealist influence. A landmark, however, in Greek poetry is the 1935 collection Ypsikaminos by Andreas Embirikos. It is considered the first Greek Surrealist poetry collection, deeply influenced by the automatic writing, the theory of the subconscious (Embirikos was a psychoanalyst himself), and the unconventionality of language, blending elements of both katharevousa (older Greek) and demotic (popular Greek). This collection received both negative and positive reviews, but nevertheless opened the door for Surrealism in Greek poetry.
A prominent figure in Greek poetry and a member of the Surrealist movement in Paris was Nikolaos Kallas (Kalamaris), who had close interactions with key figures of the movement, having lived in Paris for several years. André Breton himself described him as one of the "brightest and boldest minds of his time." Kallas was a charismatic personality with intense intellectual pursuits, free from artistic or ideological dogmatism.
A few years after Ypsikaminos, the poet and painter Nikos Engonopoulos published his poetry collection Min Omileite Eis ton Odigon ("Do Not Speak to the Driver") in 1938, which marked his entry into the Surrealist movement. It is worth noting that Engonopoulos is the only representative of the Surrealist movement in Greek painting, attempting to connect Surrealism with Greek tradition. These three poets (Embirikos, Kallas, and Engonopoulos) knew each other personally within artistic circles. In 1939, Embirikos organized Engonopoulos's first painting exhibition at Kallas’s house.
However, the Surrealist movement in Greece did not only have male representatives but also had significant female presence, with a standout case being Matsi Chatzilazarou, who was the wife of Andreas Embirikos. Chatzilazarou became connected to Embirikos on an intellectual level, and their relationship produced beautiful poems within a framework of interactive artistic creation. Her poetry is automatic, often disregarding syntax and grammar (for example, in her poetry collection Antistrofi Afierosi (Reverse Dedication). These two poets share many common features that place them within the same movement. Later, Chatzilazarou became associated with Surrealist poet Andreas Kambas, another important poet who lived mainly in Paris and London.
The Evolution of Surrealism in the Postwar Years
Greek Surrealism (especially in the postwar years) is quite ambiguous, as many poets may have introduced elements of Surrealism in their expression (such as automatic writing, the dominance of the unconscious and the dream, etc.), but they did not strictly belong to the movement itself. For example, Hector Kaknavatos, whose poetry possesses a certain intensity and a sonic dimension, or the doctor and poet Dimitris Papaditsas, who is considered a neo-Surrealist with numerous influences from French Surrealism.
A prime example of a poet who is not strictly categorized into any movement is Odysseas Elytis, whose work has often been linked to Surrealism, even though Elytis distanced himself early on from the "orthodox" Surrealism followed by his contemporaries such as A. Embirikos, N. Engonopoulos, and N. Kallas. Elytis developed his own unique mode of expression, reshaping language and blending lyricism with popular tradition. He balanced between the Generation of ’30s and the postwar generation of poets who adopted many different elements of writing.
In the early years after the war, a new generation of poets emerged who had absorbed and surpassed the Surrealist style of writing, adding other influences to their expression. Apart from Elytis, Miltos Sachtouris placed himself out of the narrow Surrealist boundaries, adopting a more symbolic style, as did Nikos Gatsos, who in his poetry collection Amorgos (1943) reached the peak of his Surrealist expression, with his later works moving in a different stylistic direction. The poetess and actress Manto Aravantinou initially adopted a Surrealist style, which later evolved into poems influenced by C. Cavafy, James Joyce, and others.
The Surrealist movement started with a group of young people in Western Europe who saw the old world crumble in the trenches of the Great War. Soon, it spread to many countries, with notable representatives. Their socio-political and artistic dispute through their work led to a movement so influential that it remains alive in 21st-century art and literature.
The Exhibition
This exhibition focuses on the representatives of Greek Surrealism in poetry, whose work breathed new life into Greek letters. These twelve poets followed the footsteps of their French and other European poets and writers, introducing an innovative way of writing that led Greek poetry into newer, more modern paths.
