Surrealism

Surrealism was an artistic, intellectual and literary movement led by the poet André Breton from 1924 until the end of World War II. 2024 marked the 100th anniversary of the first Surrealist Manifesto written by French poet and writer André Breton. The exhibition ‘The Subterrenean Sky’, currently on display at Moderna Museet in Stockholm, is a deep dive into Moderna Museet's world-famous Surrealist collection. 

The Surrealists wanted to overthrow the oppressive structures of modern society by completely eradicating rational thought. To do this, they sought to connect with what they considered to be the ‘superior reality’ that exists in our subconscious.

Surrealism developed in parallel in a number of places around the world, in the wake of the horrors of the First and Second World Wars. Dreams, chance, desire, free association, occultism and psychoanalysis are some of the methods and phenomena associated with the movement.