At the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, an exhibition investigates the link between Surrealism and magic

Through September 26, 2022, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection at Palazzo Venier dei Leoni in Venice is hosting the exhibition Surrealism and Magic. Enchanted Modernity, curated by Grazina Subelyte, Associate Curator of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection.

This is the first international exhibition to address the Surrealists ’ interest in magic, esotericism, mythology and the occult (an in-depth look at why Surrealism had a strong interest in magic can be found at this link ). The exhibition, a collaboration between the Peggy Guggenheim Collection and the Barberini Museum in Potsdam, presents some sixty works on loan from more than forty international institutions and private collections, through which it aims to offer a broad overview of Surrealism in its complexity, analyzing the ways in which magic and the occult characterized its development, from the metaphysical painting of Giorgio de Chirico to Max Ernst’s iconic painting The Dressing of the Bride, dating from 1940, to the occult imagery of the latest works of Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo. Among the museums from which the works come are the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh, the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, The Menil Collection in Houston, the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, and the Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea in Rivoli-Turin.

The Peggy Guggenheim Collection holds many important works of Surrealism, hence the idea for the exhibition: iconic works that reflect the dialogue between the authors themselves and the occult tradition. Many artists whose works are featured in the exhibition are exhibited by Peggy Guggenheim herself. From the late 1930s, the great patron and collector became familiar with the movement and soon became close friends with Max Ernst and André Breton, the latter considered the founder of the movement with his Manifesto of Surrealism.

Artists on display include Victor Brauner, Leonora Carrington, Salvador Dalí, Giorgio de Chirico, Paul Delvaux, Maya Deren, Óscar Domínguez, Max Ernst, Leonor Fini, René Magritte, Roberto Matta, Wolfgang Paalen, Kay Sage, Kurt Seligmann, Yves Tanguy, Dorothea Tanning, and Remedios Varo.

Some of the most iconic works on display include Leonora Carrington’s The Pleasures of Dagobert, Max Ernst’s The Dressing of the Bride and Europe After the Rain, Dorothea Tanning’s The Magic Flower Play, and Victor Brauner’s The Surrealist.

After Venice, the exhibition will run at Museum Barberini in Potsdam from October 22, 2022 to January 29, 2023.

For more info: https://www.guggenheim-venice.it/it/

Hours: Daily 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Closed Tuesdays.

Image: Leonora Carrington, Portrait of Max Ernst, detail (c. 1939; oil on canvas, 50.3 x 26.8 cm; Edinburgh, National Galleries of Scotland)

At the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, an exhibition investigates the link between Surrealism and magic

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