Exhibition of Surrealist masterpieces rings differently during uneasy pandemic age

Rene Magritte's "La reproduction interdite (Not to be Reproduced)" (1937) ⓒ Rene Magritte / ADAGP, Paris - SACK, Seoul, 2021 / Courtesy of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen

By Park Han-sol

"The past two years, marked by COVID-19, have been described by many people as being 'surrealist times,'" began Sandra Tatsakis, Director of International Exhibitions of the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in the Netherlands, at a recent press preview in southern Seoul.

Her remarks, made in celebration of the arrival of the Dutch museum's extensive Surrealist art collection in Korea, draw parallels between two unnerving time periods: the 1920s, when Surrealism emerged in the chaotic aftermath of World War I, and now, when the reality we thought we knew is changing every second due to the pandemic.

Looking at it this way, the Seoul Arts Center's new exhibition, "A Surreal Shock: Masterpieces from Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen," couldn't have come at a better time.

Featuring some 180 works, including masterpieces by Rene Magritte, Marcel Duchamp, Salvador Dali and Man Ray, the show sheds light on the overall history and major players of the cultural movement that favored the unconscious and the subliminal ― one that challenged the confines of reason, providing an alternative way of looking at the uneasy landscape following a global disaster.

"Surrealism is not a [particular artistic] style, but it is a mindset, a way of looking at the world," Els Hoek, curator of the Dutch museum, noted. After the devastation of the First World War, a group of young artists and writers in Europe realized that humans cannot be defined by reason alone.

"They wanted to find where other facilities of the human mind were, so they tried searching for them in their dreams, unconscious, anxieties and desires," she explained.

The exhibition fittingly starts with French poet Andre Breton's 1924 book, "Manifesto of Surrealism," where it all began. All 180 works of art on display here, ranging from paintings and sculptures to films and objects, in fact, directly share the Surrealist ideas promulgated by Breton, who acted as the formal leader of the artists' circle.

Each of the six sections of the show is dedicated to a particular aspect of Surrealism to help viewers gain better insight into the multifaceted movement, which continues to influence the fields of art and literature, as well as cultural mindsets today.

Man Ray's "Cadeau/Audace (Gift/Audacity)" (1921(1974)) ⓒ Man Ray 2015 Trust / ADAGP, Paris - SACK, Seoul, 2021 / Courtesy of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen

Works like the 1974 replica of Dada artist Man Ray's "The Gift" (1921) ― which transformed an old-fashioned iron into a non-functional, unfamiliar object by attaching a single row of nails to its sole ― show how Dada served as a foundation of Surrealism. Dadaism was the avant-garde art movement that emerged during the First World War to explore purely irrational thoughts and challenge conventional, "elitist" logic.

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But although Dadaists espoused absurdity and the illogical in their actions, Surrealists sought a new type of beauty by bridging between the subconscious and reality. As Hoek noted, they tried to find and reach the state of the untamed mind in a number of ways.

One was through dreams, influenced by Sigmund Freud's iconic book, "The Interpretation of Dreams" (1899).

"One of the Surrealists that was really interested in Freud was Salvador Dali," the curator said. His 1936 sculpture, "Venus de Milo aux tiroirs," visualizes the human unconscious as filled with desires, dreams and longings through removable drawers.

Salvador Dali's "Venus de Milo aux tiroirs" (1936) ⓒ Salvador Dali, Fundacio Gala-Salvador Dali, SACK, 2021 / Courtesy of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen

Dali later began venturing into his own techniques to portray the dreamlike state through what he called, "the paranoiac-critical method." Adopting optical illusions like the double image, his paintings conjure a complicated and strange scene, made up of multiple layers of images that are perceived differently depending on the viewer's relative position to the canvas.

Other methods adopted by the Surrealists to tap into their unconscious included a passionate exploration of repressed desire, sexuality and the female body, while many also looked into automatist practices ― performance of actions free from intention or conscious thought. To accomplish automatism, artists attempted games of chance, intoxication, spiritual seances and even the use of hallucinogens.

The highlight of the show, according to Hoek, is Magritte's 1937 painting, "Not to be Reproduced." A portrait commissioned by English poet Edward James, it depicts a man standing in front of what appears to be a mirror; however, the reflection refuses to show his face, puzzling viewers with its almost sinister ambience.

In addition to being one of the museum's most famed pieces, Hoek said through its mysterious depiction, the painting raises questions about the true nature of reality and of human beings' position within it.

Rene Magritte's "Le modele rouge III (The Red Model III)" (1937) ⓒ Rene Magritte / ADAGP, Paris - SACK, Seoul, 2021 / Courtesy of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen

"Magritte marked the beginning of a more contemporary way of thinking about reality," she said. "Together with Marcel Duchamp, he formed the foundation for conceptual art and contemporary ways of thinking about reality as a construct ― so reality not as given but as something that we humans make."

One of the notable parts of the show is the sheer range of the artists it brings to the audience. Besides the well-known masters, it encourages the viewers to keep an eye on female artists, who played equally important roles in the history of Surrealism, instead of relegating them merely to muses or supporters of their male counterparts.

They include British-born Mexican artist Leonora Carrington, British-Argentinian painter Eileen Agar, German artist Unica Zurn and German-born Swiss artist Meret Oppenheim, famed for her 1936 fur-lined teacup, "Object (Le Dejeuner en fourrure)," known in English as, "The Luncheon in Fur."

The exhibition, "A Surreal Shock," runs through March 6, 2022, at the Hangaram Art Museum of the Seoul Arts Center.

Eileen Agar's "Seated Figure" (1956) / Courtesy of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen