History of the Dada Art Movement

Today I want to talk about the Dada art movement.

Dada is a style of art that began as a response to World War 1. People were feeling disenfranchised with life, and this coincided with feelings of bitterness towards the art world as well.

Many European artists traumatized by the Great War began to ask themselves questions:

• What is the purpose of life?

• What is the purpose of art?

• Why do we make art?

• Must art serve a purpose? If so, what purpose must it serve?

• What does art look like when there is no purpose, or meaning?

• Does art have to look good? What does that even mean?

• Who decides what looks ‘good’?

Dada came as a natural response to these questions.

The dada movement was also a precursor to surrealism, and over time, the two movements tend to blur together a bit. Many Dada artists participated in both movements.

To me, I characterize Dada by the use of collage, childish or innocent color schemes, text, and absurdist or nonsensical statements or captions. Here are some of my favorite Dada artists:

Next time, I’ll discuss surrealism and how it differs from dada.

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned.