While creating, the artist never used substances "modifying consciousness". He used to say: "I don't do drugs. I am drugs."

In the early 1930s, he developed a method called paranoid-critical. This method was based on pretending to be insane. For example, he stared at the painted object until he himself began to "change form", becoming a kind of hallucination. This method has become crucial for the development of surrealism.