Dadaism
Zürich nonsense revolt
Dadaism is the early twentieth-century avant-garde movement in art and literature that rejected logic, reason, and traditional aesthetics in favor of absurdity and chance.
Founded in Zurich around 1916, Dadaists created provocative works—collages, sound poems, readymades—meant to challenge and offend bourgeois sensibilities: Dadaism influenced everything from surrealism to punk rock.
The name supposedly came from randomly stabbing a dictionary. (Lowercase dadaism is a less common variant.)
Swiss financial center
- Cabaret VoltaireAvant-garde Zurich venue
- BerlinGermany's largest city
- ParisFrance's chief city
- New YorkNortheastern metropolis and state
Innovative cultural pioneers
- surrealismIrrational, dreamlike aesthetic
- futurismStudy of tomorrow's possibilities
- cubismGeometric, fragmented visual style
- expressionismDistorting reality for emotion
constructivism · absurdism · nihilism · anti-art · manifesto · provocation · nonsense · irrationality
Assembled mixed-media artwork
- photomontageCombined image artwork
- assemblageCollected group of things
- readymadePrepared in advance
- cut-upHabitual joker or clown
juxtaposition · appropriation · deconstruction · fragmentation · typography · bricolage · détournement · montage
Wildly illogical quality
- chaosComplete disorder and confusion
- satireMockery exposing vice
- parodySatirical imitation
- anarchyDisorder from absent authority
destruction · randomness · meaninglessness · bourgeoisie · war · convention · logic · reason
Verse emphasizing phonetics over semantics
- performanceCarrying out a task
- happeningEvent in progress
- installationProcess of putting in
Public expression of disapproval
- defianceOpen resistance to authority
- anarchismPhilosophy rejecting state authority
- dissentDisagreement with authority
- nonconformityRejection of prevailing norms
radicalism · revolution · resistance · antiwar · pacifism · bohemianism · counterculture · agitation
Zurich
Swiss financial center
- Cabaret VoltaireAvant-garde Zurich venue
- BerlinGermany's largest city
- ParisFrance's chief city
avant-garde
Innovative cultural pioneers
- surrealismIrrational, dreamlike aesthetic
- futurismStudy of tomorrow's possibilities
- cubismGeometric, fragmented visual style
expressionism · constructivism · absurdism · nihilism · anti-art · manifesto · provocation · nonsense · irrationality · chance
collage
Assembled mixed-media artwork
- photomontageCombined image artwork
- assemblageCollected group of things
- readymadePrepared in advance
cut-up · juxtaposition · appropriation · deconstruction · fragmentation · typography · bricolage · détournement · montage
absurdity
Wildly illogical quality
anarchy · destruction · randomness · meaninglessness · bourgeoisie · war · convention · logic · reason · tradition
sound poetry
Verse emphasizing phonetics over semantics
- performanceCarrying out a task
- happeningEvent in progress
- installationProcess of putting in
protest
Public expression of disapproval
- defianceOpen resistance to authority
- anarchismPhilosophy rejecting state authority
- dissentDisagreement with authority
nonconformity · radicalism · revolution · resistance · antiwar · pacifism · bohemianism · counterculture · agitation · insurgent
Duchamp
- artfine art, Renaissance, painters, masterpieces, paint
- artsartist, creativity, expression, songs, painting
- paintingoil painting, watercolor, acrylic paint, oils, oil paints
- art historyart history, Renaissance, Baroque, Impressionism, modern art
- art termspainting, sculpture, drawing, portrait, landscape
- French LiteratureVictor Hugo, Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, Dumas, Jules Verne
DadaismNeoclassicism
Revival of ancient aesthetics
Renaissance art · Beaux-Arts · traditionalism · Romanticism · Realism
Dadaismreason
Basis or justification
coherence · order · systematization · didacticism · clarity