Final answer:
Surrealist artists believed that the source of true creativity was the subconscious mind, heavily influenced by the theories of Freud.
Step-by-step explanation:
Surrealist artists felt that truly creative work came from accessing the subconscious mind. This belief was significantly influenced by Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theories, especially the concept of automatism—actions not controlled by the conscious mind. Surrealists utilized dreams and trances as pathways to unleash creativity, producing art that featured dreamlike and often bizarre imagery that defied rational logic and conventional societal norms. Unlike traditional artistic inspirations from past artists or nature views, Surrealists sought to explore the inner realms of the mind, expressing these thoughts through visual abstraction.
These creative endeavors resulted from a desire to reshape perceptions of reality, particularly in response to the despair caused by the events of World War I. For the Surrealists, harnessing the subconscious became a process of rebellion against existing conditions, thus creating a new visionary language of art. It was their interpretations of dreams and unconscious impulses that led to the surreal and often unsettling imagery that characterizes the movement.