Surrealism began in the 1920s as an artistic movement that aimed to represent unconscious thoughts and dreams through techniques like automatic drawing and frottage. The movement was inspired by Freudian psychoanalysis and sought to challenge rational thought. Early artists like Max Ernst and Joan Miro used automatic techniques to illustrate the subconscious, while later artists like Salvador Dali, Rene Magritte, and Yves Tanguy created meticulously realistic images of hallucinatory scenes. Feminist critics argue that Surrealism adopted male attitudes towards women and portrayed them in stereotypical ways.