Seeing Te Papa’s Surrealist Exhibition

With the recent shift in lockdown levels, I was able to get to Wellington to see the Surrealist Exhibition currently being hosted by Te Papa Tongarewa, the Museum of New Zealand.

Impressions of Africa (1938): This painting, by Dali, captures what I think of as “classic” Surrealist expression.

The exhibition is on tour from Rotterdam’s Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen.

The Face of War (1940): This macabre work, also by Dali, is a response to the brutality and destruction of the Spanish Civil War

Generally speaking, Surrealist art is not my “thing”, but with works by Salvador Dali, Magritte, and other great names of the Surrealist movement, I really wanted to take the opportunity to see the works.

These works by Margritte are inherently recognizable

I’m really glad I did, because the whole exhibition was really interesting and fascinating. Perhaps my biggest “take away” was increased understanding of how much Surrealism began as a reaction to World War 1, and how profoundly it affected 20th century culture.