Exhibition

Surrealism Beyond Borders

A telephone receiver that morphs into a lobster. A miniature train that rushes from a fireplace.

These are just a few of the familiar images associated with Surrealism, a revolutionary idea sparked in Paris around 1924 that asserted the unconscious and dreams over the familiar and every day. While Surrealism could generate often poetic and even humorous works, it was also taken up as a far more serious weapon in the struggle for political, social, and personal freedom, and by many more artists around the world.

Nearly from its inception, Surrealism has had an international scope, but knowledge of the movement has been formed primarily through a Western European focus. This exhibition reconsiders the true “movement” of Surrealism across boundaries of geography and chronology—and within networks that span Eastern Europe to the Caribbean, Asia to North Africa, and Australia to Latin America. Including almost eight decades of work produced across 45 countries, Surrealism Beyond Borders offers a fresh appraisal of these collective concerns and exchanges—as well as historical, national, and local distinctions—that will recast appreciation of this most revolutionary and globe-spanning movement.

#SurrealismBeyond

To access the booklet of all in-gallery labels, click here.


The exhibition is made possible by the Barrie A. and Deedee Wigmore Foundation.

Additional support is provided by the Placido Arango Fund, the Gail and Parker Gilbert Fund, Alice Cary Brown and W.L. Lyons Brown, the John Pritzker Family Fund, and The International Council of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

It is organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Tate Modern.

The catalogue is made possible by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Doris Duke Fund for Publications.

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Armoire surréaliste (Surrealist Wardrobe), Marcel Jean  French, Oil on wood panel
Returned to lender
Marcel Jean
1941
S.M.S. No. 2, April 1968, Letter Edged in Black Press Inc.  American
Letter Edged in Black Press Inc.
April 1968
Visa sans planète (Visa without a Planet), Abdel Kader El-Janabi  Iraqi, Pencil, ink, and cut-and-pasted photographs and papers on a printed passport with box by Ann Ethuin
Returned to lender
Abdel Kader El-Janabi
1983-90
Le cadavre exquis no. 11 (Exquisite Corpse No. 11), Marko Ristić  Serbian, Colored pencil and pencil on paper
Returned to lender
Multiple artists/makers
1930
Exquisite corpse (Frida), Frida Kahlo  Mexican, Pencil on paper
Returned to lender
Frida Kahlo
Lucienne Bloch
ca. 1932
Exquisite corpse (Diego), Frida Kahlo  Mexican, Pencil on paper
Returned to lender
Frida Kahlo
Lucienne Bloch
ca. 1932
Cadavre exquis (Exquisite Corpse), André Breton  French, Colored pencil on black paper
André Breton
Valentine Hugo
1932
The Seven Sons of Lautréamont (and his Dutiful Beautiful Daughter), Ted Joans  American, Ink on paper with poem
Returned to lender
Multiple artists/makers
1970-1979
“Beginselverduistering” (Darkened Principles), spread from De Schone Zakdoek (The Clean Kerchief) 1, no. 1 (April 1941), Theo van Baaren  Dutch, Black paper and ink on paper
Returned to lender
Theo van Baaren
Gertrude Pape
1941
Cover of De Schone Zakdoek (The Clean Kerchief) 1, no. 6 (September 1941), Theo van Baaren  Dutch, Cigarette packets on paper
Returned to lender
Theo van Baaren
Gertrude Pape
1941

Latest reviews

Compelling… a round-the-world tour.

The New York Times

Deliriously entertaining.

The New Yorker

Exhibition Catalog

Exhibition Catalogue

This exhibition catalogue moves beyond the borders of history, geography, and nationality to provocatively redraw the map of Surrealism.

Image Credits
Marquee: Mayo, Coups de bâtons (Baton Blows), 1937. Oil on canvas. Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf. © 2021 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris. Photo: bpk Bildagentur / Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf / Achim Kukulies / Art Resource, NY