Which surrealist film directed by Luis Buñuel won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film?
Answer
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
43 Surrealism Trivia Questions with Answers
43 public questions with answers, drawn from the well. How many can you answer?
Surrealism trivia explores the art, poetry, film, techniques, and publications of a movement that turned dreams, chance, and the unconscious into creative methods. Questions may take you from André Breton and Philippe Soupault’s automatic writing to Luis Buñuel’s provocative cinema and Salvador Dalí’s strange visual worlds.
Identify the poet behind Les Chants de Maldoror, recognize The Elephant Celebes, or name the technique that uses smoke to form images. With links to literature, painting, film history, and experimental art, this collection is a strong fit for art students, humanities classrooms, themed pub quizzes, and game nights built around unusual cultural knowledge.
Which poet wrote 'Les Chants de Maldoror', a key influence on surrealism?
Answer
Comte de Lautréamont
Which surrealist poet was known for producing writings while in a hypnotic trance?
Answer
Robert Desnos
What was the first book of automatic writing published by Breton and Soupault?
Answer
Les Champs magnétiques
What was the name of the surrealist magazine that succeeded 'La Révolution surréaliste'?
Answer
Le Surréalisme au service de la révolution
Which surrealist artist painted 'The Elephant Celebes'?
Answer
Max Ernst
Which surrealist poet wrote the collection 'Capitale de la douleur'?
Answer
Paul Éluard
Which surrealist artist created the fur-covered teacup, saucer, and spoon?
Answer
Meret Oppenheim
Which Magritte painting depicts a nighttime street scene under a bright blue sky?
Answer
The Empire of Light
Which surrealist artist created the sculpture 'The Palace at 4 a.m.'?
Answer
Alberto Giacometti
Which surrealist artist was expelled from the movement by André Breton in 1939?
Answer
Salvador Dalí
Who wrote the surrealist play 'The Breasts of Tiresias'?
Answer
Guillaume Apollinaire
Which surrealist artist painted 'The Eye of Silence'?
Answer
Max Ernst
Which surrealist poet wrote the novel 'Nadja'?
Answer
André Breton
Which surrealist painter created 'Mama, Papa is Wounded!'?
Answer
Yves Tanguy
Which painting by Dalí features a double image of the bust of Voltaire?
Answer
Slave Market with the Disappearing Bust of Voltaire
Who directed the surrealist film 'L'Âge d'Or'?
Answer
Luis Buñuel
Which surrealist artist painted 'The Tilled Field'?
Answer
Joan Miró
Which surrealist technique involves writing without conscious control?
Answer
Automatic writing
What nationality was the surrealist painter René Magritte?
Answer
Belgian
Who first coined the term 'surrealism' in 1917?
Answer
Guillaume Apollinaire
What was the name of the surrealist magazine founded by André Breton in 1924?
Answer
La Révolution surréaliste
Which artist painted 'The Lovers' (Les Amants)?
Answer
René Magritte
Which surrealist artist developed the 'paranoiac-critical method'?
Answer
Salvador Dalí
What is the name of Salvador Dalí's surrealist object featuring a telephone with a lobster?
Answer
Lobster Telephone
Which surrealist artist and filmmaker directed 'Un Chien Andalou'?
Answer
Luis Buñuel
Which painting by Magritte includes the text 'Ceci n'est pas une pipe'?
Answer
The Treachery of Images
Which surrealist artist is known for the painting 'The Son of Man'?
Answer
René Magritte
Who wrote the Surrealist Manifesto?
Answer
André Breton
Surrealism trivia — quick answers
What are good Surrealism trivia questions?
Good Surrealism trivia questions ask about major artists, writers, films, magazines, automatic techniques, and influential works. Examples include identifying the poet who wrote Les Chants de Maldoror, naming the magazine that followed La Révolution surréaliste, and recognizing the artist behind The Elephant Celebes.
How hard is Surrealism trivia?
Surrealism trivia is usually medium to difficult because it draws on several creative fields. Famous figures such as Salvador Dalí and André Breton are widely known, but questions about lesser-known poets, magazines, automatic writing, and experimental techniques reward more specialized knowledge.
What is automatic writing in Surrealism?
Automatic writing is a Surrealist technique intended to bypass conscious control and allow words or ideas to emerge spontaneously. Practitioners wrote rapidly without planning or conventional editing, hoping to access unconscious thought. André Breton and Philippe Soupault used the method in Les Champs magnétiques, published in 1920.
Who wrote Les Chants de Maldoror?
Les Chants de Maldoror was written by the French-Uruguayan writer Comte de Lautréamont, the pen name of Isidore Ducasse. Published in the 1860s, the work’s startling imagery, dark humor, and rejection of literary convention made it an important precursor and influence for later Surrealist writers and artists.
What is a readymade in art?
A readymade is an existing, usually manufactured object presented as art through selection, placement, or context rather than traditional craftsmanship. The concept is most closely associated with Marcel Duchamp. Although Duchamp was not simply a Surrealist, readymades strongly influenced the movement’s interest in ordinary objects, chance, and challenges to artistic authority.