Article translated by Amritee Mahabir

André Breton ‘s surrealist Manifesto will go on sale at a Sotheby’s auction in Paris next week on 20th May 2008, along with other unedited manuscripts of the French poet presented for the first time on the art market and belonging to the writer’s first wife, Simone Collinet. The 21 page manuscript from the 1924 Manifesto is estimated by experts to be from between 300,000 and 500,000 euros and they define the cardinal lines of surrealist beliefs.
The manuscripts of the originally automatic writing texts were published and heavily edited under the title “Poisson Soluble” (Soluble Fish). But the poet immediately decided to change the text to make it into a revolutionary avant-garde story. Surrealism evolved from Dadaism but contrary to Dadaism, its objective is to overrule all deep-rooted artistic restrictions from centuries ago. Surrealism reverses destructive dadaist ideas attributing an educational role in art prompted by man’s inner being. In Breton’s Surrealist Manifesto, he defines Surrealism as a “pure psychic automatism with which one proposes to express the real process of thought, either orally or in writing, or in any other manner. Thought’s dictation, in the absence of any control exercised by reason, outside any esthetic or moral concerns”. The substantial elements of the surrealist poet are the reconsideration of the irrational workings of human creativity and the willingness to express subconscious manifestations through art: a refusal of human logic and of civil restrictions in favour of complete freedom of expression which is found in the psychoanalytical theories of Sigmund Freud. Surrealism revaluates dreams, irrationalities, madness, and hallucinogenic states, encompassing the intimate essence of reality besides reality itself, in order to grasp a sense of life with the disconcerting sensitivity of Baudelaire’s decadent thoughts. Surrealist thought manifests itself as a rebellion of cultural and social conventions, conceived as a complete transformation of life through the freedom of customs, poetry and love. He refers not only to Freud, but also Karl Marx: “Transforming the world, said Marx, life changing, said Rimbaud. These two words dictate only one meaning to us” (Breton). The “Surrealist Manifesto” manuscripts were publicly exhibited for the first time in 2002, to celebrate the “Surrealist Revolution” exhibit in the Pompidou Centre in Paris. What’s more, before being put on sale, it can be seen in Paris from between 15th to 19th may 2008. Besides this exceptional document, Sotheby’s will also display Poisson Soluble, the 59 page manuscript composed of 32 texts, a 4 year project, will go on auction at an estimate of between 200,000 and 300,000 euros, together with another seven manuscripts by Breton (valued from between 20,000 and 80,000 euros).