Creating Surreal Paintings: Dream Or Nightmare

Whether you want to evoke a dreamlike or nightmarish feeling in your paintings, there are several techniques to consider. From a technical standpoint, the colours and details in a painting are important features. For instance, the use of red can represent passion and vibrancy, while calm and serene landscapes may indicate a peaceful mental state. To create a dreamlike painting, you might consider drawing inspiration from your own dreams or imagination, such as swirling stars, mythical creatures, or surreal landscapes. On the other hand, to create a nightmarish painting, you could incorporate elements of sleep paralysis, hypnagogic hallucinations, or dystopian themes. Additionally, you can explore classical motifs, antique art, or Renaissance art for inspiration, as well as considering the emotional impact you want your painting to convey.

Use dark and confusing imagery

When creating art that captures the essence of dreams and nightmares, using dark and confusing imagery is a powerful way to evoke strong emotions in viewers. This technique can be achieved through various artistic choices, such as subject matter, colour palette, and composition.

One way to achieve a dark and confusing aesthetic is to draw inspiration from the subconscious and inner worlds of the artist. Symbolist artist Odilon Redon, also known as the "king of dreams," created lithographs that depicted a nightmarish world of hybrid creatures. His Noirs series, created between 1879 and 1899, included images of a spider with a human face, a giant flying eyeball, and horrifying chimeras. These disturbing images, rendered in black and white, evoke a sense of darkness and confusion that is characteristic of nightmares.

Another approach is to explore the theme of sleep and the agitation and pain associated with sleep disorders. Henry Fuseli's famous painting, "The Nightmare," is a classic example of this. The painting depicts a sleeping woman with a creature crouched on her chest, a common motif in sleep paralysis experiences. The dark and strange nature of the painting has invited a wide array of interpretations, reflecting the confusing and often disturbing nature of nightmares.

Additionally, artists can experiment with colour and distortion to create dreamlike and nightmarish effects. While Odilon Redon's early works were predominantly dark and nightmarish, he later transitioned to using pastels, creating blurry, colourful paintings that took on a dreamier quality. Similarly, artists like Man Ray have explored surreal dream states through illustrations that distort reality, such as "The Broken Bridge," where the legs of a naked woman are reflected in the water, blurring the boundaries between the subject and her surroundings.

Dark and confusing imagery can also be achieved through graphic designs that capture the raw and unrelenting nature of certain emotions. Mikalojus Povilas Vilutis' "Aggression II" is a graphic design that explores aggression and insecurity, shedding light on the darkest and scariest emotions of the human psyche. By delving into the complexities of human emotions, artists can create confusing and disturbing imagery that resonates with the viewer on a deeper level.

Finally, the use of abstract structures and modernism can create a sense of darkness and confusion in art. Ričardas Bartkevičius' "Flirt" is a dark and confusing piece that explores the subject of human emotion and courtship. By keeping the subjects in the dark, the painting gains life and experience through the interpretation of the viewer, allowing for a multitude of confusing and dreamlike narratives to unfold.

In conclusion, by utilising dark and confusing imagery, artists can effectively evoke the emotions and mysteries associated with dreams and nightmares. Through the exploration of the subconscious, sleep disorders, colour and distortion, graphic designs, and abstract structures, these artistic choices can create powerful and evocative dream-like and nightmarish artwork.

Draw on biblical stories of divine visions

Dreaming of paintings and the act of painting are popular themes in art history, often explored through the lens of biblical stories and divine visions.

Biblical narratives are replete with dreams and visions, such as the famous story of Jacob's Dream, depicted by artists like Raphael and Nicolas Dipre. In this dream, Jacob encounters God, who delivers a prophetic message. Similarly, Joseph interprets Pharaoh's dream in Genesis 41 as a divine warning about an impending famine. These biblical dream narratives provide a rich source of inspiration for artists to explore divine visions and their symbolic meanings.

The act of painting in dreams is often associated with creativity, expression, and the manifestation of inner thoughts and emotions. It can symbolize the divine act of creation, echoing God's creation of the world, and the power to bring beauty into existence. The colours, images, and scenes in the painting can hold significant meanings, reflecting biblical themes such as redemption, love, and spiritual growth. For example, the colours white, red, and blue in biblical dreams are believed to hold specific interpretations that guide the dreamer's spiritual journey.

Additionally, the dreamer's emotions during the dream can influence its interpretation. Joy, frustration, or indifference can add layers of meaning to the act of painting in the dream, reflecting the dreamer's subconscious desires, thoughts, and spiritual state. The dream may also symbolize a meditative state, a need for mindfulness, or the desire for clarity and revelation from a divine source.

When interpreting biblical dream paintings, it is essential to acknowledge the subjective nature of dream interpretation. Cultural and personal influences play a significant role in understanding the symbolic language of dreams. By embracing openness to symbolic communication, artists can draw on biblical stories of divine visions to create powerful artworks that convey spiritual truths and divine messages.

Depict hybrid creatures and surrealism

Surrealism is a style of art that aims to bring the unconscious mind to life. Artists such as Salvador Dalí, Yves Tanguy, and René Magritte painted in a hyper-realistic style, creating the illusion of three-dimensionality and emphasizing a dream-like quality in their works. The colours in these works are often saturated or monochromatic, both choices conveying a dream state. Surrealist artists often relied on automatism, which allowed them to forgo conscious thought and embrace chance when creating art.

To depict hybrid creatures and surrealism in paintings, one can take inspiration from artists such as Hieronymus Bosch, who created strange creatures that bridge the distance between human and animal, resulting in a sense of unease. Bosch's work, "The Garden of Earthly Delights" (c. 1480-1490), features a bird with the back legs of a deer or goat, a mermaid or merman in armour, and other grotesque creatures. These hybrids can be interpreted as figures from dreams, hallucinations, or expressions of an individual's subconscious.

Another artist to consider is Max Ernst, who was part of the early Surrealist movement. Ernst invented techniques such as frottage and grattage, which created textured and fragmented images. His work often reflected the subconscious brutality of war, as seen in "The Elephant Celebes", which combines a Sudanese corn bin with a headless figure in a dream-centred exploration of Freud's concept of free association.

Additionally, the Cobra movement in art is known for its hybrid creatures, combining humans, animals, plants, and objects. Cobra artists painted in a raw, "primitive" style, attracting them to the animal world as they viewed animals as higher than humans due to their connection with nature.

By combining elements from nature and creating monsters or hybrid creatures, artists can evoke a sense of the uncanny and jolt viewers out of their comforting assumptions. This technique has been used to characterize evil and express earthly temptation and the terrors of hell.

Explore the subconscious and inner worlds

Exploring the subconscious and inner worlds is a powerful way to evoke emotion and convey complex ideas and feelings in your paintings. This can be achieved through various methods, including symbolism, metaphor, and surrealism, as well as drawing inspiration from dreams, nightmares, and hallucinations.

Symbolism and metaphor are potent tools for artists to express their inner world and subconscious. These elements act as a cryptic language, inviting viewers to interpret and uncover hidden meanings beneath the surface. Artists may draw from personal experiences, emotions, and ideas, transforming abstract concepts into tangible imagery through allegories and metaphors. This symbolic language can bypass the conscious mind and provide a window into the artist's subconscious, revealing raw emotions, fears, fantasies, and unique perspectives.

Surrealism, influenced by Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis, explores the unconscious mind and its impact on the conscious experience of living. Surrealist artworks often feature dreamlike scenarios with abstract and sometimes disturbing imagery, serving as a method of pure automatic expression. Artists like Salvador Dalí, René Magritte, and Max Ernst utilized surrealism to explore new ways of viewing the world, incorporating the recent discoveries of psychoanalysis into their work.

Dreams and nightmares can also serve as inspiration for exploring the subconscious and inner worlds. Artists like Odilon Redon, nicknamed the "king of dreams," often depicted scenes from his subconscious, creating sensual evocations of his experiences and feelings related to the mysteries of nature. Redon's Noirs lithographs, created between 1879 and 1899, unveiled a terrifying world of hybrid creatures that seemed to have emerged from nightmares.

Additionally, artists can draw inspiration from their own dreams or nightmares, such as Albrecht Dürer, who painted "Dream Vision" in 1525, inspired by a powerful dream he had. Man Ray, a Surrealist photographer, also drew and painted his dreams immediately upon waking, capturing the dreamlike universe in his works.

Exploring the subconscious and inner worlds through art can provide valuable insights into the human psyche, emotions, and experiences, offering a unique perspective on the artist's inner world and their interpretation of their surroundings.

Convey emotion and feeling

Conveying emotion and feeling in paintings that explore dreams and nightmares is a powerful way to bring together the personal and the intimate, the fantastical and nightmarish, and the prophetic and divine. Here are some ways to achieve this:

Explore the subconscious and inner worlds: Tap into your own subconscious and inner feelings, experiences, and mysteries of nature. Symbolist artist Odilon Redon, nicknamed the "king of dreams," often depicted scenes from his subconscious, creating sensual evocations of his experiences and feelings.

Surrealism and dream-like universes: Surrealism and dream-like universes can effectively convey the emotions and feelings associated with dreams and nightmares. Man Ray's illustrations for the collection "Free Hands" are a great example of this. His drawings often reflected the dreamlike state between the visible and the invisible, blurring the lines between reality and imagination.

Biblical and divine themes: Biblical stories and divine visions have been a popular topic for artists exploring dreams and nightmares. Raphael's "Jacob's Dream" (1518) depicts Jacob encountering God in a dream, with a composition that emphasizes the reality of the vision.

Explore darkness and light: Dreams and nightmares can be conveyed through the use of light and dark, both literally and metaphorically. Odilon Redon's early works, such as the Noirs, were predominantly black and white, creating a nightmarish atmosphere. However, his later works embraced colour and pastels, marking a shift from nightmares to a dreamlike serenity.

Personal experiences and feelings: Tap into your own emotions and experiences to convey authentic feelings in your paintings. Albrecht Dürer's "Dream Vision" (1525) was inspired by a powerful dream he had, which left him deeply shaken. By painting his dream, Dürer not only remembered it but also conveyed the intense emotions he felt.

Explore the unknown and unconscious: Dreams and nightmares often delve into the unknown and the unconscious mind. Artists like Henry Fuseli explored this theme in his work "The Nightmare," which caused an uproar when it was first presented. Fuseli's work often incorporated medical phenomena and explored sleep, sleep disorders, and the analysis of dreams as a window into the inner self.

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