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Chapter 3.2: Dreams and Visions

Art, of course, is about seeing. But it is not always about representing the world as it exists, and sometimes it can allow us to see with more than our eyes.

From Aboriginal artists who paint the unseen forces of the universe to Surrealists who looked into the recesses of the unconscious mind for inspiration, people have found many ways to record ephemeral feelings, unknowable mysteries, personal fantasies, and inner visions. At the same time, art has been used as a tool to inspire and guide dreams and visions, both secular and spiritual.

Watch the video, Dreams and Visions (27 minutes). To see more art with this theme scroll down to the Sections topic, located under the video, and click on any of the links.

A painting of a dream with a large bouler in the desert with a face. There appears to be a veil of flowers flowing from the eyes and forehead of the face.
Figure 1. John Armstrong, Heaviness of Sleep. Tempera, 1938 (Image source: Visual Arts Legacy Collection, Artstor. Used with permission, for education use only).

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ART105: Exploring Art and Visual Culture Copyright © 2025 by Pima Community College is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.