The Unconscious The underlying idea of surrealism is to retrieve images from the unconscious; depth psychology had realized that we are determined much more by unconscious than by conscious thought and that it is not advisable to ignore this. What does it mean, to retrieve images from the unconscious. How is it supposed to happen? We know about these images from the unconscious from myths and fairy tales as well as from dreams. They are not real but fantasies, strange, confusing, beyond our grasp. Symbols are used: There are forms and objects which make great impressions and strong statements. Myths and fairy tales tell us about gods, giants, kings, about paradise and the underworld. In a dream I once walked with Stalin from Moskau to Paris. The Surrealist uses all these things as means for this style: Strong symbols, the gathering of objects which do not belong together, invention of new forms, questioning of the known by hollowing out and breaking it, ignoring of spatial reality. Here is the recipe: paint as exactly as possible objects which do or do not exist, as much as possible in an unrelated manner and place them in some space into which they do not belong. Is it that simple? Yes but something seams to be missing: one should not let ourselves get away with doing things too easily.