Surrealism and the Occult

Dr Tessel M. Bauduin is a historian of art and culture. She holds a PhD in the Arts from the University of Amsterdam, and is currently affiliated with the Radboud University, Nijmegen, as a post-doctoral researcher. Her research interests include the historical avant-garde, especially Surrealism; Modernism and occulture; Modernist medievalism.

• Introduction [overview of the field. Analysis of other studies/works on this subject. Explanation of method. Definitions of occultism] I. The time of slumbers [early 1920s. Spiritualism, mediumism, parapsychology. The Sleeping Sessions. Breton: various essays] II. The period of reason [late 1920s. clairvoyance, seership. Rimbaudian alchemy. Breton: Nadja (1928)] III. The 'Golden Age' [the 1930s. The demand for the occultation (2nd Manifesto). Objective chance. Myth. Breton: Mad Love] IV. Intermezzo: Surrealism in arcanum: the war [1938-1945. SUR in the US. Christian heterodox throught. Myth and magic. Breton: Arcanum 17.] V. The international exposition of Surrealism, 1947 [1947ff. The exhibition as display of SUR's occultation. Most occult period in SUR. Breton: L'Art Magique (1957). Alchemy. Petering out of SUR.] Conclusion.