In attempting to consider, from the surrealist point of view, the relevance of the concept of the avant-garde and whether surrealism can be considered an avant-garde movement, I suppose that the simplest answer would be no. Surrealism is, in many ways, opposed to the idea of vangardism both politically and culturally, at least if we consider the traditional meanings of the term. (And that despite Peter Bürger’s claim that surrealism is the ultimate avant-garde).
