Depending on the lens adopted, surrealism is seen as a mere valorization of the bizarre, or even an aesthetic rupture. But looking at it in this isolated way is precisely what prevents the movement from showing what it is most authentic about.
The 1938 International Surrealism Exhibition, which began on January 17, sought precisely to highlight surrealism, drawing attention to its most striking characteristics.
Exhibition proposals
This exhibition was a great opportunity for many artists to reveal themselves and present their proposal. And on this specific occasion, all visitors would be invited to not only delve into the works, but also into the mind itself.
Right at the entrance, the sight of 16 decorated mannequins encouraged the public to reflect on the feminine and desire. Signs indicating real and imaginary streets also took shape, going beyond the paintings present in the exhibition.
After being welcomed, visitors were taken inside a cave, which had a small artificial lake, where another story was told. There, confinement in a space with a seemingly fragile ceiling seemed to radiate claustrophobia. It is, therefore, a sensorial experience.
Surrealism and its many meanings
Surrealism valued the unconscious and spontaneity par excellence. But even though it has been around since the 1920s, it took some time to take shape and become better known.
Klee, Picasso, Duchamp and Salvador Dali are some of the great names who highlighted, each in their own way, the expressiveness and provocation of the movement. Many works still show how surrealism was associated with the dream world, such as the paintings of René Magritte.
In a way, the 1938 International Surrealism Exhibition allowed art to be free and immersive in the way it is presented today, before our eyes. Present in paintings, sculptures, music, cinema and literature, surrealism was also closely related to philosophy and psychoanalysis.
And if in the exhibition it was visible how hysteria was part of this artistic movement, endowed with so many nuances, it was definitely not by chance. After all, the world seemed to be permeated with her at that moment.
A relationship between art and life
Despite being unusual, chaotic and provocative, the International Surrealism Exhibition was considered a landmark. On its first day, three thousand people attended. The event, seen as exaggerated by critics, shaped the course of art history. And even though it wasn’t the first surrealist exhibition, it was the most expressive of all.
Perhaps part of what she had to offer ended up going unnoticed during that period. A closer look would even be able to notice how some works also had a strong political bias. The spectacle itself was dominated by a somber atmosphere.
And as the Second World War broke out shortly afterwards, it can be said that the exhibition was the last great pulse of the movement, threatened by the advance of totalitarian regimes and the pace of the conflict itself.
