Surrealism Without Borders exhibition opens at Tate Modern

A ground-breaking exhibition at the Tate Modern explores the broad scope of the radical Surrealism movement.

Based on extensive research undertaken by Tate and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Surrealism Without Borders spans 60 years and 50 countries to show how the art movement inspired and united artists around the globe.

Work displayed it from places as diverse as Buenos Aires, Cairo, Lisbon, Mexico City, Prague, Seoul and Tokyo.

The exhibition will show how this dynamic movement took root in many places at different times, offering artists the freedom to challenge authority and imagine a new world.

Sparked in Paris around 1924, Surrealism prioritised the unconscious and dreams over the familiar and everyday.

While it has often generated poetic and humorous works it has also been used by artists around the world as a serious weapon in the struggle for political, social, and personal freedom.

Featuring over 150 works ranging from painting and photography to sculpture and film, many of which have never been shown in the UK, this exhibition explores the collective interests shared by artists across regions to highlight their interrelated networks.

It also considers the conditions under which they worked and how this in turn impacted Surrealism, including the pursuit of independence from colonialism and displacement caused by conflict.

Among the rarely seen works are photographs by Cecilia Porras and Enrique Grau, which defied the conservative social conventions of 1950s Colombia.

There are also paintings by exiled Spanish artist Eugenio Granell, whose radical political commitments made him a target for censorship and persecution.

Familiar Surrealist themes such as the exploration of the uncanny and unconscious desires are repositioned from a fresh perspective.

Visitors will see iconic paintings such as Max Ernst’s Two Children are Threatened by a Nightingale alongside lesser known but significant works including Antonio Berni’s Landru in the Hotel, Paris, which appeared in the artist’s first exhibition of Surrealist works in Argentina.

Toshiko Okanoue’s Yobi-goe (The Call) 1954, which addressed the daily experience of post-war Japan will also be on show.

Surrealism Beyond Borders is at the Tate Modern until August 29, 2022.

 

Main Picture: Antonio Berni - Landru en el Hotel, Paris 1932. Private Collection, Courtesy Galeria Sur