Who Created the Automatism?

Surrealist collage, putting together images clipped from magazines, product catalogues, book illustrations and other sources, was invented by Max Ernst, and was the first form of automatism in visual art. Ernst also used frottage (rubbing) and grattage (scraping) to create chance textures within his work.

When was automatism created?

In the early 1940s, influenced by Surrealism, he began to produce “automatic” paintings and with Jean-Paul Riopelle founded the radical abstract group known as Les Automatistes (c. 1946–51).

Why did Surrealists make use of automatism in their work?

Automatism was a group of techniques used by the Surrealists to facilitate the direct and uncontrolled outpouring of unconscious thought. ... In doing this they were attempting to externalize the kind of thinking evident in dreams, where, according to Sigmund Freud, everyone is a poet.