Dalí, Magritte, Miró. Surrealism in Paris

The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium organises, in collaboration with the Fondation Beyeler in Basel, an exhibition on Surrealism in Paris. Together, they provide an important overview of some of the most famous artists of the twentieth century: Hans Arp, Hans Bellmer, Salvador Dalí, Giorgio de Chirico, Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, Alberto Giacometti, René Magritte, Man Ray, André Masson, Joan Miró, Meret Oppenheim, Francis Picabia, Pablo Picasso and Yves Tanguy.

The core of the exhibition consists of paintings, sculptures and works on paper but, because the Surrealists challenged the traditional classification of artistic disciplines, composite objects, photographs and assemblages will also be shown.

Surrealism is one of the best-known art movements of the 20th century and its influence is felt to this day. It is also the only avant-garde art movement of the first half of the 20thcentury in which Belgian artists, the most prominent of whom was René Magritte, exerted a decisive influence. Surrealism originated in Paris in the early twenties out of discontent with the gratuitous criticism of traditional art by Dadaism. The surrealists were ambitious.

They wanted nothing less than to liberate the mind through art and literature and rebuild society from the very foundations upwards. André Breton formulated this ambition into several powerful texts and was the uncontested leader of the group.

The experience of the First World War had clearly shown that man’s uncontrolled delusions had ended in a spiral of self-destruction. The Surrealists had the idea that they could counter this derailment. In art, it was possible to vigorously question the prevailing worldview and liberate new, hopeful and constructive energy from the shackles of conventions and clichés.

Date: until July 15.
Location: Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium. Rue de la Régence, 3, b-1000. Brussels. Belgium
Opening hours : from Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 5pm.