Gascoyne's membership of the Surrealist movement and his association with its leading members - among them Andre Breton, Paul Eluard, Max Ernst and Salvador Dali - placed him in an ideal position to witness and record the development and significance of its foremost artists and writers. A Short Survey of Surrealism is not merely a history of the birth and growth of the movement but also a thorough analysis of the main ideas associated with it.