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Fondation Beyeler Presents Surrealism in Paris

The Fondation Beyeler presents Surrealism in Paris an exhibition on view October 2, 2011 – January 29, 2012.

The Fondation Beyeler is devoting the first-ever comprehensive exhibition in Switzerland to Surrealism in Paris. On view will be major works by artists such as Salvador Dalí, René Magritte, Joan Miró, and many more who either belonged to the movement or were associated with it. Surrealism was one of the most crucial artistic and literary movements of the twentieth century and had a lasting influence on it. After emerging in Paris in 1924, the movement unfolded a worldwide impact. Influenced by the writings of Sigmund Freud and under the leadership of its chief theoretician, André Breton, the Surrealists set out to change life and society by means of a new brand of art and poetry. Tapping the unconscious mind and world of dreams was to trigger an entirely unprecedented kind of creativity. “Dalí, Magritte, Miró – Surrealism in Paris” comprises about 290 masterworks and manuscripts by about 40 artists and authors.


Salvador Dalí, Traum, verursacht durch den Flug einer Biene um einen Granatapfel, eine Sekunde vor dem Erwachen, 1944, Öl auf Holz, 51 x 41 cm Fondation Beyeler

The highlights will include a presentation of the legendary Surrealist private collections amassed by Peggy Guggenheim and by Breton’s first wife Simone Collinet. In addition to famous paintings and sculptures, objects, photographs, drawings, manuscripts, jewelry and films await discovery.

The loans to the exhibition stem from renowned private collections and public museums, in Europe and the United States.
The exhibition is curated by Philippe Büttner, Fondation Beyeler curator.
The exhibition is accompanied by an abundantly illustrated scholarly catalogue, published in a German and English edition by Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern. It contains essays by Quentin Bajac, Philippe Büttner, Julia Drost, Annabelle Görgen, Ioana Jimborean, Robert Kopp, Ulf Küster, Guido Magnaguagno, Philip Rylands, Marlen Schneider, Jonas Storsve und Oliver Wick, and a chronology of Surrealism by Valentina Locatelli; 289 pages and 304 full-color illustrations.
ISBN: 978-3-7757-3161-4, CHF 68.00.

A second exhibition venue is planned, at the Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique in Brussels (March to July 2012).

Fondation Beyeler, Beyeler Museum AG, Baselstrasse 77, CH-4125 Riehen

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