The term ‘Surrealism’ was first coined by the French poet
Guillaume Apollinaire in 1917 to characterise a ballet entitled
Parade. Comprising set designs and costumes by Pablo
Picasso, dancers metamorphosed into skyscrapers and other
ciphers of modernity. This ballet and Apollinaire’s nascent
musings on Surrealism were typified by ‘surprising analogies
based on reality. In 1924, the Surrealist movement itself
was founded in Paris by the writer and poet André Breton
with a more robust philosophical orientation. Bretonian
Surrealism adopted the ideas of both Karl Marx and Sigmund
Freud, aligning the politics of revolution with the psychology
of dreams. The movement gradually gained a significant
international following. Yet, China is not a country habitually
associated with Surrealism’s worldwide expansion and is
generally overshadowed by its neighbour Japan.