Surrealism
AI Prompt Inspiration
Learn keywords that will help you generate wonderfully weird Surrealistic photos with Firefly and Midjourney.
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of the unconscious thought”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of an alternate reality”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of weird animals”
~Built in Midjourney
Midjourney & Firefly Tested Keywords
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How It Works
To honor the quirky randomness of surreal art, I’ve selected 4 ambiguous prompts to test all our keywords with.
This way you can see how each keyword changes the resulting image. Here is what all the test prompts look like without any additional keywords.
Unconscious Thought
a surrealistic painting of the unconscious thought
A Man Wearing a Hat
a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat
An Alternate Reality
a surrealistic painting of an alternate reality
Weird Animals
a surrealistic painting of weird animals
History
Qualifications
Artists
Colors
Brief History: Surrealism
Surrealism is an art movement that started in Europe between the World Wars (during the 1920s-1930s) that emerged as a rebellion against “rationalism”, an ideology these artists blamed for starting World War 1. Surrealism champions the illogical, the unconventional, and the liberating lack of control.
Through revolutionary techniques such as automatic drawing, artists aimed to explore the subconscious to expose their own psychological truth. They believed the unconscious mind was key to liberating artistic expression.
1920s-1930s
The golden age of surrealism.
Cubism
Another abstract popular art movement of the time.
Illogical
A goal of surrealistic art.
Europe
The birthplace of surrealism.
Expose the Psychological Truth
Another goal of surrealism.
Midjourney
Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of the unconscious thought, 1920s-1930s“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat, 1920s-1930s“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of the unconscious thought, 1920s-1930s“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat, 1920s-1930s“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of an alternate reality, 1920s-1930s“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of weird animals, 1920s-1930s“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of an alternate reality, 1920s-1930s“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of weird animals, 1920s-1930s“
~Built in Firefly
Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of the unconscious thought, 1920s-1930s“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat, 1920s-1930s“
~Built in Midjourney
Cubism
Cubism was a vastly popular art movement growing at the same time Surrealism was emerging. Artist often combined the two styles for an even more abstract effect.
Midjourney
Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of unconscious thought using the style of cubism“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat using the style of cubism“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of unconscious thought using the style of cubism“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat using the style of cubism“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of an alternate reality using the style of cubism“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of weird animals using the style of cubism“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of an alternate reality using the style of cubism“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of weird animals using the style of cubism“
~Built in Firefly
Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of unconscious thought using the style of cubism“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat using the style of cubism“
~Built in Midjourney
Illogical
The illogical keyword helps you resulting images be even weirder that the surrealistic keyword allows. It also has the benefit of adding objects related to logic, such as brains, gears, eyes, etc.
Midjourney
Firefly
Prompt: “an illogical surrealistic painting of unconscious thought“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “an illogical surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “an illogical surrealistic painting of unconscious thought“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “an illogical surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “an illogical surrealistic painting of an alternate reality“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “an illogical surrealistic painting of weird animals“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “an illogical surrealistic painting of an alternate reality“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “an illogical surrealistic painting of weird animals“
~Built in Firefly
Midjourney
Prompt: “an illogical surrealistic painting of unconscious thought“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “an illogical surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat“
~Built in Midjourney
Expose the Psychological Truth
These images are just wonderfully weird! Since this phase is so abstract, the resulting images are too!
Midjourney
Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of unconscious thought made to expose the psychological truth“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat made to expose the psychological truth“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of unconscious thought made to expose the psychological truth“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat made to expose the psychological truth“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of an alternate reality made to expose the psychological truth“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of weird animals made to expose the psychological truth“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of an alternate reality made to expose the psychological truth“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of weird animals made to expose the psychological truth“
~Built in Firefly
Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of unconscious thought made to expose the psychological truth“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat made to expose the psychological truth“
~Built in Midjourney
Europe
This keyword has a bit of a dreary effect on the images. Colors are toned down similar to other European paintings of the time, and subjects are often seen with straight faces.
European architecture is often added even though it is not promoted for.
Midjourney
Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of unconscious thought from Europe“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat from Europe“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of unconscious thought from Europe“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat from Europe“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of an alternate reality from Europe“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of weird animals from Europe“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of an alternate reality from Europe“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of weird animals from Europe“
~Built in Firefly
Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of unconscious thought from Europe“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat from Europe“
~Built in Midjourney
Sponsored
What Makes Surrealism, Surrealism?
Since the entire point of surrealistic art is to free one’s own subconscious, there isn’t a definite way to qualify what is and isn’t surrealism. Each subconscious is as diverse as the art in this movement.
If you’ve followed the philosophy and maybe some of the techniques of surrealism, then what you create is surrealistic art.
So for this section, I’ve focused on words that can be used to describe surrealistic art, rather than keywords that are used to quantify if a piece is surrealistic.
Dreamy
Strange Beauty
Psychic
Poetic
Fantasy
Mysticism
Dreamy
Dreams are the epitome of the unconscious thought. Surrealistic artist often aimed for their work to reflect the dreamworld, and often tried to get into a dream-like state while creating.
The resulting images are strange yet beautiful! Pink and purple tones are often mixed in to better reflect dreaming.
Midjourney
Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of the unconscious thought, dreamy”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat, dreamy”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of the unconscious thought, dreamy”
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat, dreamy”
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of an alternate reality, dreamy“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of weird animals, dreamy”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of an alternate reality, dreamy“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of weird animals, dreamy”
~Built in Firefly
Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of the unconscious thought, dreamy”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat, dreamy”
~Built in Midjourney
Strange Beauty in the Unexpected & the Uncanny
The keyword really says it all, these images are strange yet beautiful!
Midjourney
Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of the unconscious thought, strange beauty in the unexpected and the uncanny“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat, strange beauty in the unexpected and the uncanny“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of the unconscious thought, strange beauty in the unexpected and the uncanny“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat, strange beauty in the unexpected and the uncanny“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of an alternate reality, strange beauty in the unexpected and the uncanny“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of weird animals, strange beauty in the unexpected and the uncanny“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of an alternate reality, strange beauty in the unexpected and the uncanny“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of weird animals, strange beauty in the unexpected and the uncanny“
~Built in Firefly
Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of the unconscious thought, strange beauty in the unexpected and the uncanny“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat, strange beauty in the unexpected and the uncanny“
~Built in Midjourney
Psychic
Mystical and magical imagery appear when using this keyword. Elements common to psychic art such as the all seeing eye, and planetary alignments are often added into the generated images.
Midjourney
Firefly
Prompt: “a psychic surrealistic painting of the unconscious thought“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a psychic surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a psychic surrealistic painting of the unconscious thought“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “a psychic surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “a psychic surrealistic painting of an alternate reality“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a psychic surrealistic painting of weird animals“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a psychic surrealistic painting of an alternate reality“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “a psychic surrealistic painting of weird animals“
~Built in Firefly
Midjourney
Prompt: “a psychic surrealistic painting of the unconscious thought“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a psychic surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat“
~Built in Midjourney
Poetic & Revolutionary
These images tend to be dark, and moody and filled with such interesting details!
Midjourney
Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of the unconscious thought, poetic and revolutionary“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat, poetic and revolutionary“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of the unconscious thought, poetic and revolutionary“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat, poetic and revolutionary“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of an alternate reality, poetic and revolutionary“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of weird animals, poetic and revolutionary“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of an alternate reality, poetic and revolutionary“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of weird animals, poetic and revolutionary“
~Built in Firefly
Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of the unconscious thought, poetic and revolutionary“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat, poetic and revolutionary“
~Built in Midjourney
Fantasy
Just like the genre, the fantasy keyword creates such weirdly wonderful images. Pinks, purples, and blues are common with this keywork.
Midjourney
Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of the unconscious thought, fantasy”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat, fantasy“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of the unconscious thought, fantasy”
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat, fantasy“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of an alternate reality, fantasy“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of weird animals, fantasy“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of an alternate reality, fantasy“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of weird animals, fantasy“
~Built in Firefly
Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of the unconscious thought, fantasy”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat, fantasy“
~Built in Midjourney
Mysticism
Similar to psychic, the mysticism keyword makes the image much more magically focused. These images look like they’ve been lifted off the page of Harry Potter and made just a little weirder.
Midjourney
Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of unconscious thought, mysticism“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat, mysticism“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of unconscious thought, mysticism“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat, mysticism“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of an alternate reality, mysticism“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of weird animals, mysticism“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of an alternate reality, mysticism“
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of weird animals, mysticism“
~Built in Firefly
Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of unconscious thought, mysticism“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat, mysticism“
~Built in Midjourney
Sponsored
In the Style of:
Artists
Midjourney knew a surprising number of Surrealism artists! Usually I have to really dig to find artist that Midjourney knows, but this time I had to cut down!
Check out these 6 popular Surrealist artists and how their work interacts with Midjourney.
It’s important to call out here, that not all of these artists have consented for their work to be used in Midjourny. If you are going to use their name in your prompt, try to steal like an artist. Meaning, use their work as inspiration, don’t just replicate it.
*Artist Names Don’t Work in Firefly
Adobe doesn’t train its AI on artist names so Firefly images have been removed from this section.
Salvador Dalí
René Magritte
Jean Arp
Joan Miró
Max Ernst
André Masson
Salvador Dalí
1898-1967 Spain
Bio
Salvador Dalí is one of the most prolific Surrealist painters in history. The clocks from his masterpiece “The Persistence of Memory” are instantly recognizable. Although he was born in Spain, Dalí was influential in Paris’ Surrealist group and is largely accredited for helping grow the movement’s popularity in the 30s.
Effect on Midjourney
- Similar desert landscapes as “The Persistence of Memory” with bright blue skies.
- Characters & objects are given long spindly legs as seen in his “The Temptation of St. Anthony”.
- People are often given Dalí’s iconic mustache.
Midjourny Images
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat in the style of Salvador Dalí“
~Built in Midjourney
“Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of an alternate reality in the style of Salvador Dalí“
~Built in Midjourney
“Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of weird animals in the style of Salvador Dalí“
~Built in Midjourney
René Magritte
1904-1989 Brussels, Belgium
Bio
Magritte’s style of painting familiar objects in unfamiliar ways is iconic. While he is highly regarded now, his work at the Paris Surrealist group during the 1920s wasn’t as popular at the time. Now, you can see his influence on artists across mediums such as the Beatles, John Green, and Terry Gilliam.
Effect on Midjourney
- Images have a beautifully blue sky with nice fluffy clouds.
- Men wearing suits and top hats are often present.
- A Green similar to Magritte’s “Son of a Man” painting is often the supporting color.
Midjourny Images
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat in the style of René Magritte“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of an alternate reality in the style of René Magritte“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of weird animals in the style of René Magritte“
~Built in Midjourney
Jean Arp
1886-1966 France
Bio
Unlike most other artists on this list, Jean Arp wasn’t primarily a painter, he was a sculptor. Arp’s ambiguous, yet seductive style captivated the public. Not only was Arp a big part of the Paris Surrealist group in the 1930s, but he was also part of founding the Dadaism movement, the direct predecessor to Surrealism.
Effect on Midjourney
- Like his sculptures, images generated using his style are made out of ambiguous organic shapes
- Since most of Jean’s work didn’t have color, you get a variety of palette options in your images.
Midjourny Images
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat in the style of Jean Arp“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat in the style of Jean Arp“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of weird animals in the style of Jean Arp“
~Built in Midjourney
Joan Miró
1893-1983 Spain/France
Bio
Joan Miro took the ambiguity of surrealism to new heights with his minimalistic and abstract paintings. Miro used simple organic shapes to create vague representations of things in the real world. André Breton—the chief spokesman of Surrealism—once stated that Miro was “the most Surrealist of us all” due to his simplistic techniques.
Effect on Midjourney
- Miro’s work has a really fun geometric effect on Midjourney
- Deep reds and blues are common in Miro’s work and often appear in images generated using his name.
Midjourny Images
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat in the style of Joan Miró“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of an alternate reality in the style of Joan Miró“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of weird animals in the style of Joan Miró“
~Built in Midjourney
Max Ernst
Los Angeles, US
Bio
Highly involved in the Dada movement earlier in his life, Max Ernst was a founding member of the Surrealist movement in Paris. He used common Surrealist techniques such as Frottage, and Decalcomania to create accidental patterns and textures he could free associate with.
Effect on Midjourney
- Has the same retro, highly contrasted style.
- Often wants to add a female subject, even when one isn’t prompted for.
- Similar retro red palettes to Shepard.
Midjourny Images
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat in the style of Max Ernst“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of an alternate reality in the style of Max Ernst“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of weird animals in the style of Max Ernst“
~Built in Midjourney
André Masson
1896-1987 Paris, France
Bio
André Masson was famous for using the automatic drawing technique during Surrealism’s inception. Automatic drawing is a technique where the artist let’s their hand draw randomly across the paper in an attempt to free one’s subconscious. This techunique is responsible complex, organic, and geometric drawings.
Effect on Midjourney
- Random swirls and shapes iconic to Masson’s use of automatic drawing.
- Most images have a similar pinkish-red palette.
Midjourny Images
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat in the style of André Masson“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of an alternate reality in the style of André Masson“
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of weird animals in the style of André Masson“
~Built in Midjourney
Sponsored
Surrealistic Colors
#1A75C6
Sky Blue
#E2C491
Desert Sand
#E22C25
Canyon Red
Sky Blue
#1A75C6 rgb(26,117,198)
Midjourney
Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of the unconscious thought, Sky Blue”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat, Sky Blue”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of the unconscious thought, Sky Blue”
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat, Sky Blue”
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of an alternate reality, Sky Blue”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of weird animals, Sky Blue”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of an alternate reality, Sky Blue”
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of weird animals, Sky Blue”
~Built in Firefly
Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of the unconscious thought, Sky Blue”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat, Sky Blue”
~Built in Midjourney
Desert Sand
#E2C491 rgb(226,196,145)
Midjourney
Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of the unconscious thought, Desert Sand”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat, Desert Sand”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of the unconscious thought, Desert Sand”
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat, Desert Sand”
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of an alternate reality, Desert Sand”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of weird animals, Desert Sand”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of an alternate reality, Desert Sand”
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of weird animals, Desert Sand”
~Built in Firefly
Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of the unconscious thought, Desert Sand”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat, Desert Sand”
~Built in Midjourney
Canyon Red
#E22C25 rgb(226,44,37)
Midjourney
Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of the unconscious thought, Canyon Red”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat, Canyon Red”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of the unconscious thought, Canyon Red”
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat, Canyon Red”
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of an alternate reality, Canyon Red”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of weird animals, Canyon Red”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of an alternate reality, Canyon Red”
~Built in Firefly
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of weird animals, Canyon Red”
~Built in Firefly
Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of the unconscious thought, Canyon Red”
~Built in Midjourney
Prompt: “a surrealistic painting of a man wearing a hat, Canyon Red”
~Built in Midjourney