Art historian and guide Tatyana Avtsina introduced us to the world of the mad and brilliant surrealists at the exhibition “Imagine – 100 Years of International Surrealism” at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium (KMSKB) in Brussels. The “boys’ club” was made up of the most prominent artists of the early 20th century, led by the movement’s prophet André Breton, who exactly 100 years ago, in 1924, published the Surrealist Manifesto. Tatyana has a unique ability to talk about these artists as if they were old friends, with the insights of a connoisseur and the depth of a true expert on the European art scene. The minotaurs of surrealism were presented to us in all their glory, with their talents, passions, and internal artistic battles on full display.
We saw that very painting by Salvador Dalí featuring the proletarian leader Lenin on piano keys (after the dead donkey years earlier), which led to his “expulsion” by André Breton from the surrealist ranks. As is well known, the representatives of this art movement were rebels against bourgeoisie and thus held leftist views.
The exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts gathered surrealist masterpieces from around the world, unseen by the Brussels audience. Even “our own” René Magritte, seemingly overexposed, amazed us with his “Les Grands Voyages.” Tatyana paid special attention to the most charming surrealist, in whose presence women forgot all other men in the world – Max Ernst. His brilliant “Forest” from a Swiss private collection (!) will remain in memory forever. The exhibition is divided into the main themes in the work of these different but ideologically united surrealists – the forest, chimeras, erotica….
We were able to feel, as art is about emotions – why, upon seeing the works of Giorgio de Chirico, artists abandoned all previous styles and plunged headlong into the alluring surrealism. Sometimes we need a hint – and Tatyana is a master of detail, allowing the viewer to reach the core of the emotional turmoil in perceiving art. Your inner know-it-all is not hurt, but filled with new ideas.
In this “boys’ club,” we were also introduced to outstanding women, names we are only beginning to discover. “Imagine” offers a wonderful spectrum of female surrealism – Dorothea Tanning (several galleries at “Art Brussels” showcased her works), Leonor Fini, Toen – each of their lives worthy of a great director’s film adaptation.
Surrealism, like a bright comet or the razor blade from Luis Buñuel’s “Un Chien Andalou,” sliced through the 20th century and officially ended with the moon landing, leaving us to ponder the meanings of its masterpieces. The most steadfast among us concluded the “Day of Surrealism” at the nearby Bozar art center with a remarkable film concert of “Un Chien Andalou,” featuring music by composers of the era, such as Erik Satie, and Wagnerian music used in the original 1929 version by the Spanish director (performed by the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Vincent De Kort).
“An immersion in surrealist poetry, dream, the labyrinth, metamorphosis, the unknown and the subconscious, led by the great names of surrealists, from Max Ernst to Giorgio de Chirico, not forgetting Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, Jane Graverol, Dorothea Tanning, Man Ray, Leonor Fini, etc.
IMAGINE! focuses on the connections and similarities, but also the fracture lines between surrealism and symbolism, one of its precursors. From 1880 onwards, Brussels was an exceptional hub for the arts and the avant-garde, as demonstrated by the exhibitions of groups such as “Les XX” and “La Libre Esthétique”. Symbolism, embodied in particular by Rops, Spilliaert, Khnopff, Delville and Minne, evolved rapidly in Brussels and largely anticipated the emergence of the surrealist movement. A few decades later, Brussels became a centre for Belgian surrealism. Despite the cultural rupture caused by World War I, the older symbolists and the emerging youth were never fundamentally alienated from each other.
From January to July 2024, Belgium will hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. What better year to celebrate surrealism, the movement which put Belgium on the map, and found meaning within a European context? What’s more, 2024 also marks the hundredth anniversary of the publication of the ‘Surrealist Manifesto’ (1924). With IMAGINE!, the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium wish to celebrate the centenary of the birth of surrealism in an optimal European context.
After Brussels and Paris, the exhibition will travel to the Hamburger Kunsthalle and the Fundación Mapfré Madrid, before closing at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.”
