What is the name of the surrealist technique using smoke to create images? The technique is called fumage.
In fumage, an artist uses smoke from a candle or kerosene lamp to leave impressions of soot on paper or canvas. The resulting marks can be accepted as they appear, developed into recognizable forms, or used as a starting point for a more deliberate composition. Chance and suggestion are central to the process.
The technique was popularized by the Surrealist artist Wolfgang Paalen. His work “Dictated by a Candle” was shown at the 1936 International Surrealist Exhibition in London. Paalen treated smoke as a way to encourage images that were not fully controlled by conscious planning.
Fumage is easy to confuse with frottage, which creates rubbings from textured surfaces, or grattage, which involves scraping paint from a canvas. Salvador Dalí also experimented with the method and called his version “sfumato,” borrowing a term associated with smoky visual transitions in painting.