What is the difference between Surrealism and Expressionism?

Surrealism and Expressionism both reject pure realism but pursue different goals. Expressionism (emerging around 1905) distorts reality to express emotional or psychological states-the external world reflects inner feeling through exaggerated color, form, and gesture. Surrealism accesses the unconscious mind through dreams, automatism, and irrational juxtaposition rather than emotional exaggeration. Expressionist distortion remains tied to felt experience; Surrealist imagery often depicts scenes the artist hasn’t emotionally experienced but has accessed through unconscious processes. Expressionism influenced Abstract Expressionism; Surrealism influenced it through automatism. Some artists like Max Ernst engaged both movements. Contemporary Dark Art often combines expressionist intensity with surrealist imagery.