People make dreams—fascinating, dull, scary, and many different types that you could think of. In the past, different cultures have use dreams for its religious and cultural purposes, for example, predicting the future. Dreams are believed to have important meanings in human cognition. Some people may believe that dreams reflect what the world is happening around you in a different version.

In my own experience, many of the dreams are correlated with my daytime life. I bet you also had dreams before exams that told you that you missed it, or you had dreams of being late for important things. I also dreamed about my dog when I left home, she was lying in her bed so calm, and I could sniff her fur and touch her so vividly, just like I was still back home.

Figure 1. this is a drawing of my dog based on what I dreamed.

I remembered some of those dreams when I woke up, while the others are lost right before I tried to put them down.

But how exactly are dreams formed? When we talk about dreams, it is inseparable from sleeping. The stage of rapid eye movement sleep, which we have abbreviated as REM, is usually associated with the most vivid and intriguing dream-forming stage of sleep. It is called rapid eye movement sleep because your eyes during this stage of sleep tend to move a lot and rapidly. Fascinatingly, in REM, you have brain activities that having the frequency of waves exactly the same as you are awake and active. [1]

During sleep, there are multiple brain areas involved in sleeping. The hypothalamus, it is the control center that are crucial for sleep and awake. The suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) are having neurons that process information about light exposure from the environment that contributes to your normal circadian rhythms, which is your rhythm of activity based on day and night. Your brain stem are also involved in sleeping process, which sleep-promoting cells located in brain stem and hypothalamus will produce neurotransmitters (GABA) to reduce your physical activity and relax your muscles. Those active regions are essential for getting you into sleep. While for dreaming, the thalamus is essential for REM sleep and dream formation. It processes images, sounds and other sensations in the process of modifying short-term memory into long-term storage. The amygdala was also active during REM sleep, and this part of the brain region is often associated with emotions and conditioned learning. [2] Based on a research from that investigates the synthesis of dreams, they looked into the brains of mice to see what happened during REM sleep. There is PGO waves formed in pons and activate the forebrain through midbrain reticular formation. While your sensory inputs and motor outputs were shut down during sleeping, such internal driving force ” makes” your dreams vivid and surreal. [4]

Figure 2. The neural mechanism during rapid eye movement sleep in the study

Surrealism is a type of artistic style that depicts dreams through visual features. Many of the surrealist artists are using automatic drawing or writing that helps them unveil their unconscious thoughts. Such liberal expression could also be expressing their way of life. René Magritte was a surrealist artist, he aimed to use his art to evoke mystery and imply unknowable meaning behind his art.  His artistic expression is often distinct from other artist by his combination of human figures with daily subjects combined in a imaginary and dreaming manner. His artworks often uses symbolisms to relate between life and dream subjects. [3]

Figure 3. René Magritte’s painting

Citations:

[1] Cleveland Clinic. “Sleep.” Cleveland Clinic. Cleveland Clinic, June 19, 2023. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/12148-sleep-basics.

[2] National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. “Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep.” National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, September 5, 2024. https://www.ninds.nih.gov/health-information/public-education/brain-basics/brain-basics-understanding-sleep.

[3] Bertrand, Sandra. “Rene Magritte—Magician of Dreams and Perception | Highbrow Magazine.” Highbrowmagazine.com, 2025. https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/3175-rene-magritte-magician-dreams-and-perception.

[4] Tsunematsu, Tomomi. “What Are the Neural Mechanisms and Physiological Functions of Dreams?” Neuroscience Research 189 (December 2022). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neures.2022.12.017.