Exquisite corpse: what it is, examples in art and literature and how to do this surreal exercise

The surrealist movement, of which the poet and writer André Breton was a precursor, was characterized by putting images before ideas, both literary and pictorial. It was about repressed and dreamlike representations emerging from the unconscious, which was achieved through various resources such as hypnosis, trance states and the game called cadavre exquis in French, which translates into Spanish as exquisite corpse.

What is an exquisite corpse

The exquisite corpse is a game, but beyond the playful aspect it is a creative process based on images that are not consciously accessible. How it was born and why it is called that constitute an interesting story.

Origin of the practice

This game is based on a previous one, called consequences, which existed since the Victorian Era in London and consisted of putting together sentences using words that each participant contributed from a previous one . A group of friends used to meet in the house in a Paris neighborhood where Marcel Duhamel lived, who enjoyed a very good economic position, so there was always good wine and several of his friends stayed there.

Where did the name come from

According to André Breton, one day in 1925 when they decided to make some modifications to the game, the first sentence that appeared was: “Le cadavre exquis boura le vin nouveau”, which means: “the exquisite corpse will drink the new wine” , and for this reason they decided to call it "exquisite corpse". Exquis literally means exquisite in French, but the word has other connotations. The definition of exquisite in that language also encompasses the meanings of charming, brilliant, elegant, or delicious.

Why they did it

The current of thought promoted by André Breton in 1924 was surrealism, which was fundamentally inspired by Freud. Surrealism means above reality, referring to the unconscious that was fashionable at that time. The objective of the game was for all the repressed irrational ideas to surface, to use them as a source for poetic activity, since a maxim of the movement says that poetry is a group activity and not of a single head.

These ideas had a profound impact on all intellectual spheres of the time, significantly influencing the way of perceiving the world and the expression of all the arts.

Who participated

Those who inaugurated the activity were writers and poets such as André Breton, Robert Desnos, Paul Éluard and Tristan Tzara, among others, since the game began with the idea of ​​developing the expression poetics through writing. Spanish-speaking poets also played important roles in the Surrealist movement, such as Federico García Lorca and the Chileans Pablo Neruda, Nicanor Parra and Vicente Huidobro.

A short time later the exquisite corpse began to be applied to drawing and plastic artists appeared, including the great Salvador Dalí, considered the greatest representative of surrealism, as well as Joan Miró, Valentine Hugo, Man Ray, Max Morise and Ives Tanguy. All of them left a legacy of very important works, which are part of the most valuable collections of art museums.

Some examples of exquisite literary and graphic corpses

As has been observed, the exquisite corpse, synonymous with surreal, originates from poetry and literature, since its creator was the writer and poet André Breton (1896-1966), who also studied medicine and, during World War I, worked in psychiatric hospitals. For this reason, the roots of surrealism go back to the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), who experimented with automatic writing, which consists of expressing ideas without reflecting on them.

Exquisite corpses in literature and poetry

The surrealist movement soon permeated all the literature and poetry of the time. Fundamentally, this current defended a free expression, without ties to pre-established norms, where the only thing It was valid to let your imagination run wild.

Exquisite corpse, novel

This technique applied to literature consists in the fact that there is no defined plot, but instead each participant resolves, in the chapter that is their turn, the situation that their predecessor raised. The first exquisite corpse book aimed at a mass audience was the mystery fiction novel titled The Floating Admiral, which was published in 1931. Fourteen famous authors including Agatha Christie participated in its development.

Exquisite corpse, poetry

In the field of poetry many authors used the exquisite corpse game. Among them two Spanish-speaking celebrities who were Federico García Lorca and Pablo Neruda, creating their poems together. It is said that he contrasted the joy of the man from Granada and the melancholy of the Chilean, and the best known of these compositions was a poetic speech in the City of Buenos Aires in tribute to Rubén Darío, in 1933.

Exquisite Corpse, Surrealist Book by André Breton and Phillipe Soupault

Los Campos Magnéticos, written using the exquisite cadaver technique and automatic writing, to which the authors dedicated up to ten hours a day, is considered the first written work in the surrealist world. It is a book of poetry, where you can perfectly appreciate what is exquisite according to the French concept. It was published in 1920 and in this regard, Breton went so far as to say that it seemed written by a single author with two heads.

Exquisite corpses in painting and drawing

Salvador Dalí (1904-1989) was the greatest exponent of surrealism and it is known that in his house in Port Lligat, where the In the museum that bears his name, prominent artists met to create works that originated in the games of cadavre exquis or exquisite corpses. Today there are several plastic artists who represent the movement.

Exquisite corpse, painting

The concept of exquisite corpse in painting has continued to be maintained and one of its current expressions are groups dedicated to urban art, also known as street art or graffiti, that exist in most cities of the world.

Exquisite Corpse, Drawing

Similarly, there are many artists currently working with the Exquisite Corpse model in drawing. This means that they refer to the school of Salvador Dalí, as the greatest exponent in plastic expression, since exquisite corpse and surrealism are inseparable.

Some of them are the Catalans Marc M. Gustá and Bernat M. Gustá, who together are authors of drawings for comics with notorious quality, according to the meaning of exquisite, which is interpreted as elegant and refined.

And another notable group in terms of drawing exquisite corpses are the French J. Delrieu, H. Dedack, E. Guinard and C. Le Roux, who work together and are equally well-known comic book artists, with drawings that enjoy international prestige.

Other creators of exquisite corpses

Although the first intellectuals who practiced the exquisite corpse technique were poets, and later plastic artists joined, this practice continued to spread to other fields, even in much more recent times, such as movies, music and television.

The exquisite corpse in the cinema

Between 1997 and 1998, the Thai film director Apichatpong Weerasethakul shot a film called Mysterious Object at Noon, which was released in 2000. This film did not have a pre-established script. Nine filmmakers along with nine musicians were hired for its development, without some of them knowing what the others were doing, and they only knew a small final part of what came before. Additionally, interviews were carried out with people from the country, who told their own stories and appeared in the film.

The exquisite corpse in music

As for music, there are several examples that deserve to be cited. The first of them, due to its importance, corresponds to the internationally known conductor, the Argentine Juan María Solare (1966), who teaches composition classes and uses the technique, distributing the responsibility for the creation of a piece among several musicians, but isolating them. so that they do not have access to the creative process of others.

On the other hand, the American jazz bassist Jaco Pastorius (1951—1987), in 1981 also applied the exquisite corpse to compose his famous piece Crisis. And another well-known, the famous Argentine, singer, guitarist and composer Luis Alberto Spinetta (1950-2012), in 1973 created his song Por, together with his partner, through the same method. Likewise, there are very interesting musical experiences in Mexico.

The exquisite corpse on television

Since 2017 the American television series Rick & Morty uses the exquisite corpse technique (which in the English language is known as exquisite corpse). This has been reflected in the construction of its chapters, where drastic changes are observed that give the program dynamism, especially in terms of animation and how surprising the stories are.

How to make an exquisite corpse

The creation of an exquisite corpse is carried out through a playful group activity, where the members let their imagination run free, starting from the trigger of what they have written or drawn the previous participant. This type of game is usually used in creativity workshops, at school, in therapy, or simply to spend a different time with friends.

Art therapy, which is a relatively new discipline, is taking a leading role in therapies and it is common to see groups of people writing drawings through which their unconscious emerges. Similarly, the exquisite corpse technique is applied in schools to create playful poetry, which is one that operates with images.

There are different methods and resources to carry out this task. Below is a possible model for the creation of a group poetry or a song, which in this case starts from a randomly selected trigger.

The theme

Normally the theme is defined, although there is also the possibility of leaving this aspect free. For this exercise, it is assumed that the participants know what they are going to write about, but it is important that there is no plot, since they are basically working with images that emerge during the game.

The resources

Aside from each person having a pencil or pen, the central instrument is a folded sheet of paper, where a sentence is to be written in each of the folds. In this case, a book is used to begin.

Time and length

It is necessary to determine how many sentences are going to be written in total and how many each player writes in each of the rounds, which ideally are two per turn. The number of rounds is established according to how many people participate.

On the other hand, it is necessary to allocate time for the participant to write their sentences, which should be very short so that the first thing that comes to mind prevails and not reasoning. You have to write very quickly and you cannot reread or amend what you have written.

The methodology

To begin, the first participant opens a book and, with eyes closed, places their finger on a paragraph. No one else can know what that first randomly selected sentence says, which is noted as the beginning, and from there the one who starts the game writes other additional sentences according to the images that appear in his head.

When the next player receives the sheet, they only have to read the last of the sentences and from it create two more. The person who finishes the last round must give a kind of closure to the text, which is then read in its entirety. The exquisite carcass resulting from this practice is always surprising and also very funny.

It is also important to remember what exquisite means, since the sense of aesthetics and charm must guide the activity, so everything that is tacky or superfluous in terms of expressions must be avoided, since this is a important exercise to stimulate the psyche.

As can be verified based on current artistic manifestations, surrealism is not out of fashion, but on the contrary, the cadavre exquis becomes relevant in terms of expression and healing. On the other hand, the practice of the exquisite corpse is especially recommended for these times, both in children and in young people and adults, since, among other things, it is an intelligent way of having fun.