From its beginnings in 1924, Surrealism, a movement rooted in the subconscious and dream activity, became a catalyst for numerous artists who sought to break free from the constraints of reality. In the 20th century, the landscape genre, in particular, was influenced by this appeal to the imaginary, as seen in the work of painters affiliated with the movement. André Masson and Joseph Sima, for example, depicted landscapes of forests that evoke a sense of unsettling strangeness.
The primeval forest and oversized objects appear in the monumental paintings of Jörg Immendorf, who references German Romanticism in a landscape rich with complex implications. Similarly, Félix Labisse uses incongruous and disproportionate forms imbued with a vaguely threatening eroticism.
The theme of double vision, present in the work of Joseph Sima, also reappears in the paintings of Marc Desgrandchamps, as well as in the film by Laurent Grasso.
