It’s the artists who do the dreaming for society.

Dreams were a major influence on the Dadaist and surrealist artist Méret Oppenheim. Her father introduced her to the writings of the psychoanalyst Carl Jung when she was 14, and she recorded her dreams throughout her life. Oppenheim’s later use of dreams as inspiration for her art adhered to the very essence of surrealism. Many of her pieces — sculptures, paintings, photographs, and more — consist of everyday objects reconfigured to shift their meaning, often alluding to female sexuality. In 1936, she created her most famous piece, “Object,” featuring a fur-covered teacup, saucer, and spoon. It was mischievous and undeniably sexual, and the surrealists considered it a quintessential example of the movement.