Surrealism was one of the most interesting and influential art movements of the twentieth century. A collective adventure begun by a small group of intellectuals in Paris in the early 1920s, among them Max Ernst, René Magritte and Salvador Dalí, its influence was felt through the rest of continental Europe and in Britain, the Americas, Mexico and Japan. This introduction offers new insights into the complexities of the Surrealist imagination. It documents how the artists met, the relationship of Surrealism to Dada, and the influences that formed the movement, particularly the work of Sigmund Freud. The position of women, as Surrealist subject-matter as well as artists in their own right, and Surrealism in the cinema and theater are all examined. There is close analysis of individual works, many of them from the Tate Gallery collection.