What is the Uncanny?

The uncanny (from German ‘unheimlich’) refers to a sense of strangeness or unease provoked by something simultaneously familiar and foreign. Sigmund Freud explored this concept in his 1919 essay, analyzing how dolls, doubles, automata, and other almost-human objects create psychological discomfort. The uncanny arises when repressed fears or primitive beliefs resurface through encounters with the strange-yet-familiar. Surrealists deliberately employed the uncanny to destabilize viewers’ perceptions, making familiar objects strange and revealing hidden anxieties within everyday life. Mannequins, disembodied limbs, empty spaces, and transformed bodies all produce uncanny effects in Surrealist art. The concept remains central to understanding why Surrealist imagery affects us so powerfully and continues influencing Dark Art and contemporary practice.