André Masson painted the 1926 Surrealist work Battle of Fishes, an abstract composition of fish-like forms.
Masson made Battle of Fishes by scattering sand onto a support coated with glue and then adding oil paint. This process helped him create an image through chance, a principle closely associated with Surrealist experiments in automatic creation. The forms appear energetic and unstable rather than arranged as a conventional narrative scene.
Masson was a major early member of the Paris Surrealist circle and explored automatic drawing, sand painting and biomorphic abstraction. Battle of Fishes is often discussed as an example of how Surrealist artists used materials and accidents to bypass deliberate planning. It is sometimes attributed to Joan Miró because both artists developed abstract, organic imagery during the 1920s.