The “Peggy Guggenheim Collection” presents “Surrealism and Magic. Enchanted Modernity” curated by Gražina Subelytė, Exhibition Curator at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. With about sixty works from prestigious international museums, this is the first major exhibition entirely dedicated to the interest nurtured by the surrealists in magic, mythology and esotericism.
Like no other 20th-century movement, Surrealism was keenly inspired by tropes of magic, myth and the occult. In their engagement with the irrational and the unconscious, numerous of its members looked to magic as a poetic and deeply philosophical discourse, related to both arcane knowledge and individual self-empowerment. Over the past two decades, various studies have considerably expanded the appreciation of magic as a key aspect of the activity of the Surrealist group. In their works, the artists associated with the movement heavily drew on esoteric symbols and cultivated the image of the artist as an alchemist, magician, and visionary.
This exhibition explores the myriad ways, in which magic and the occult informed the development of Surrealism in international perspective, tracing its artistic trajectory from the “metaphysical paintings” of Giorgio de Chirico through to the politically contentious climate of the postwar years.
Amongst the many fascinating artists included in the exhibition are Victor Brauner, Leonora Carrington, Salvador Dalí, Paul Delvaux, Maya Deren, Max Ernst, Leonor Fini, René Magritte, Maria Martins, Roberto Matta, Wolfgang Paalen, Kay Sage, Kurt Seligmann, Yves Tanguy, Dorothea Tanning, and Remedios Varo.
Website: www.guggenheim-venice.it
Location: Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venier dei Leoni Palace, Venice
Schedule: April 9 – September 26, 2022
Hours: 10 am – 6 pm / closed on Tuesdays
Ticket: up to € 15
