'Dalí, Magritte, Man Ray and Surrealism' opens at the Mudec

MILAN - It was December 1, 1924 when the poet André Breton published the collection 'Poisson Soluble' in Paris, the introduction of which would become the First Manifesto of Surrealism: the original booklet opens the exhibition 'Dalí, Magritte, Man Ray and Surrealism.

Masterpieces from the Boijmans Van Beuningen' Museum, which can be visited from tomorrow at the Mudec - Museo delle Culture in Milan.

The most dreamlike of the avant-gardes of the 20th century is narrated by over 180 works including paintings, sculptures, drawings, documents and artefacts from the collection of one of the most important museums in the Netherlands, in dialogue with some works from the permanent collection of the Milanese museum.

Promoted by the Municipality of Milan - Culture and produced by 24 Ore Cultura - Gruppo 24 Ore, the exhibition was created thanks to loans from the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam, which has a famous collection of surrealist art that includes artists such as Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst, René Magritte and Man Ray.

The museum is closed until 2029 for renovations, but its collection is traveling around the world.

The curatorship was entrusted to the art historian Els Hoek, curator of the Mfhduseo, with the collaboration of Alessandro Nigro, professor of the history of art criticism at the University of Florence.

Curating an exhibition for the Mudec led Hoek to a targeted selection of the collection with a focus on the Surrealists' interest in native cultures, to which an entire section is dedicated,

ranging from the document condemning the 1931 Colonial Exposition to the subversive ethnography of George Bataille to the Exhibition of Surrealist Objects at the Galerie Charles Ratton (1936), which underlined the affinity between Surrealist and ethnographic objects.

Alongside the surrealist works, some by Mudec, in a dialogue between cultures.

From the iconic sofa in the shape of lips (by Mae West) to the Venus de Milo with drawers by Salvador Dalì and the restored Venus by Man Ray, each section is then introduced by a key work and a quote, which tells how surrealism it was not just a style or an artistic movement, but a poetic thought, with a new way of approaching the world.

Exhibition of Surrealist Objects at Galerie Charles Ratton (1936), which emphasized the affinity between Surrealist and ethnographic objects.

Alongside the surrealist works, some by Mudec, in a dialogue between cultures.

From the iconic sofa in the shape of lips (by Mae West) to the Venus de Milo with drawers by Salvador Dalì and the restored Venus by Man Ray, each section is then introduced by a key work and a quote, which tells how surrealism it was not just a style or an artistic movement, but a poetic thought, with a new way of approaching the world.

Exhibition of Surrealist Objects at Galerie Charles Ratton (1936), which emphasized the affinity between Surrealist and ethnographic objects.

Alongside the surrealist works, some by Mudec, in a dialogue between cultures.

From the iconic sofa in the shape of lips (by Mae West) to the Venus de Milo with drawers by Salvador Dalì and the restored Venus by Man Ray, each section is then introduced by a key work and a quote, which tells how surrealism it was not just a style or an artistic movement, but a poetic thought, with a new way of approaching the world.