This is not an exhibition. One hundred years after the publication of André Breton's Manifesto, the Centre Pompidou gives in to a surrealist fever by taking us into the lair of dreams and nightmares of the greatest artists of the 20th century. A dream both terrible and marvelous haunted by the fantasies of Magritte, the metaphysical worlds of Giorgio de Chirico and the fiery constellations of Joan Miró. Should we expect the traditional unconscious works and images of dripping watches from Salvador Dalí? Nothing is less sure.

Divided into fourteen chapters evoking the figure of Lewis Carroll as much as that of the Marquis de Sade, this whimsical and provocative exhibition dares to take a step aside by combining surrealism with the feminine. It is with undisguised pleasure that we launch ourselves in pursuit of her chimeras with on one side the magical realism of the captivating Leonora Carrington, the mythological creatures of the bewitching Leonor Fini, on the other the clichés hypnotics of a Dora Maar at the height of her art. No need to resist, you know the rule: the only way to free yourself from temptation is to give in to it.

Did you know?
André Breton didn't just make friends in the surrealist movement. The poet nicknamed Salvador Dalí “Avida Dollars”, an anagram of the artist's name and a thinly veiled criticism of the Spanish painter's greed and uninhibited love of money. René Magritte, for his part, deliberately accentuated his Belgian accent by rolling the “r” more than necessary. The goal ? Annoying the father of surrealism who didn't like his Walloon accent.

POMPIDOU CENTER
From September 4, 2024 to January 13, 2025