Exhibition Of The Week: Surrealism Beyond Borders

Words by
Lee Cassanell

8th March 2022

A globetrotting exhibition spanning 50 years of surrealism. 

From Dalí’s Lobster Telephone to Magritte’s train rushing from a fireplace – Surrealism has been used by artists as “a serious weapon in the struggle for political, social, and personal freedom.” 

The exhibition features over 150 works ranging from painting and photography to sculpture and film. Based on extensive research undertaken by Tate and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, it spans 80 years and 50 countries to show how Surrealism inspired and united artists around the globe, from centres as diverse as Buenos Aires, Cairo, Lisbon, Mexico City, Prague, Seoul and Tokyo. 

Expanding our understanding of Surrealism as never before, Tate Modern 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.

Featuring iconic works by artists such as Max Ernst, Alberto Giacometti, Marcel Duchamp, Helen Lundeberg and André Breton, the exhibition also showcases  rarely seen works such as photographs by Cecilia Porras and Enrique Grau of 1950’s Colombia and paintings by exiled Spanish artist Eugenio Granell, whose radical political commitments made him a target for censorship and persecution.

Until 29 August. https://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-modern