2024 marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of the Surrealist Manifesto, written by poet André Breton. Fantastic Visions: 100 Years of Surrealism from the National Galleries of Scotland, organized by Museum of Art Pudong (MAP) with the National Galleries of Scotland, will open to the public on February 2, 2024. 

This exhibition, drawn entirely from the collection of the National Galleries of Scotland, contains over 100 major works by over 50 artists, including some of the world's most important surrealists like Salvador Dalí, René Magritte, Max Ernst, Joan Miró, Leonora Carrington, and Dorothea Tanning. All the artworks on display, ranging from painting, sculpture, frottage, collage, photography, manuscripts, and books, are presented in China for the first time.

Taking a journey through the history of the Surrealist movement, the exhibition guides the audience from its early origins to the centennial celebration. Divided into three sections, Fantastic Visions presents vivid pictures of the development of Surrealism throughout the 20th century. Moreover, on the 4th floor of the museum, there's a specially designed area for visitors to further interact with Surrealism and take fun pictures.

With the opening of Fantastic Visions, all gallery spaces at MAP will be available to explore, with five exhibitions on display simultaneously. The exhibition will be on display until August 31 and is produced by Shanghai Lujiazui Development (Group) Co., Ltd., and co-organized by the Museum of Art Pudong and the National Galleries of Scotland.

Simon Groom, Director of Modern and Contemporary Art at the National Galleries of Scotland, said, "The National Galleries of Scotland is really passionate about making art accessible to as many people as possible, at home in Scotland but also through a global programme of loans and tours. We are delighted to be working with MAP to stage the first major exhibition of Surrealism ever to be held in China. Fantastic Visions will enable new audiences the opportunity to explore Scotland's collection of world-class artworks and to celebrate 100 years of Surrealism in an exhibition unlike any other."

Ms. Li Minkun, Deputy General Manager of Lujiazui Group, Chairman of Museum of Art Pudong, stated, "In the centennial celebration, we embrace this exhibition as a grand festivity. Through the collaborative efforts of MAP and the National Galleries of Scotland, we are devoted to conveying the essence of surrealism to a broader audience, igniting new vitality in international cooperation, and promoting the integrated development of art and culture."

One Hundred Years of Surrealism in Three Sections

A mesmerizing journey full of fantastic visions

Surrealism, one of the most influential art movements of the 20th century, is known for unleashing imagination and unconventional means of expression. The fantastic visions it presented have had a profound and far-reaching impact on later generations of artists and cultures worldwide. The rise in Surrealism was a response to the horrors of war, and the ongoing threats presented by the modern world. Artists resorted to psychic automatism, emphasizing the importance of the subconscious mind in artistic creation. Inspired by the psychoanalytic writings of Sigmund Freud, Surrealist artists gave up conventional techniques and explored the subconscious. More than a resistance to conformity in the field of art, it also evoked revolutionary resonance in the wider cultural scenes. Dada and Surrealism laid a foundation for later emerging movements such as Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art. The developments of Surrealism expanded the boundaries for artistic creation, as its anti-rational attitude not only formed a profound metaphor of reality, but also enabled interpenetration between illusion and reality.

Fantastic Visions: 100 Years of Surrealism from the National Galleries of Scotland presents the legendary journey of Surrealism spanning a century through three periods: 1916–1929 From Dada to Surrealism, 1930–1938 Surrealism Expands, and 1939 – Late 20th Century Surrealism in Exile and the Post-War Period.

During the first period, Dada, as a response to WWI, laid a solid foundation for the rise of Surrealism. Fantastic Visions reveals that Surrealism, which began largely as a literary movement, employed "automatic writing" to express truths that lay beyond the rational mind. The publication of the Surrealist Manifesto by André Breton, the group's leader, marked the official launch of this revolutionary movement, which soon welcomed the participation of visual artists such as Joan Miró, Max Ernst, and René Magritte. In the second period, Breton relaunched Surrealism with the Second Manifesto of Surrealism. The movement gained further momentum with the inclusion of Dalí and Giacometti. Two important developments occurred in Surrealism during the 1930s. Firstly, there was the emergence of the "object", which could be a "found object" or "ready-made", as Duchamp called it, as an art form. Secondly, Surrealism expanded from France to Belgium, Czechoslovakia, and other parts of Europe, as well as to Asia. The third period witnessed the dispersion of the Paris Surrealist group after the outbreak of WWII. Artists like Carrington either went into exile or returned home. After the war, New York emerged as a major center for Surrealism, which had a profound impact upon the next generation of Abstract Expressionist artists, as well as homegrown American artists, such as Tanning, who brought an irrepressible American individuality to their work.

Over 100 pieces of authentic Surrealist masterpieces are on display in China for the very first time

With more than 100 authentic masterpieces by over 50 Surrealist artists selected from three significant periods in the development of Surrealism, the exhibition sheds light on the "convulsive beauty", as André Breton put it. The Lobster Telephone, one of the most celebrated works of Surrealist art, is an example of an "assisted readymade": an ordinary object altered in a specific way to give it a whole new meaning. Another exhibit, Salvador Dalí's Exploding Raphaëlesque Head, demonstrates his "paranoiac-critical method" for re-interpreting reality. His route to the subconscious involved conscious misreadings of reality, overturning the accepted understanding of the world by taking paranoid delusions seriously.

René Magritte used a uniquely heightened realism to depict a Surrealist world. In The Magic Mirror, he explored the complex and multi-layered relationship between words and images. The appearance of the French words "corps humain" (human body) in the work suggests an enigmatic interplay between images and words. In another one of his works, Threatening Weather, Magritte showed a greater interest in exploring the incongruous and disturbing world of dreams, following the basic precepts of Giorgio de Chirico and painting in a deadpan realist style.

Max Ernst used various "automatic" processes, such as rubbing (frottage) and scratching (grattage), to suggest new realities, beyond our consciously perceived world. In Sea and Sun, he performed similar mechanical actions, drawing circles and making lines in wet paint. The resulting images inspired Ernst to read deeper significance into the sun and its reflection in the sea, by making the former into a godlike, all-seeing eye and its dark reflection into its black, lifeless opposite. The frottage technique was discovered by Ernst in 1925. In this exhibition, 8 prints from the portfolio Histoire Naturelle he made in the same year are also on display.

Although Joan Miró made much of how his paintings during this period were made in a totally unpremeditated manner, based on hallucinations brought on by deliberate self-starvation, they were in fact based on very detailed drawings. Head of a Catalan Peasant, painted in 1925, is one of Miró's most famous images, in which he expressed pride in his Catalan peasant heritage in a reduced manner. Similar to his painting Maternity, Miró has reduced the human figure to a traditional, red Catalan hat, two eyes, and a beard, all linked together by straight lines in a cruciform shape, demonstrating a unique balance between spiritual depth and visual simplicity.

A selection of works by female and gender non-conforming Surrealist artists is on display at the exhibition. Dorothea Tanning's Living Picture has captured attention with its soft, brushy, and sensuously tactile manner of painting. As one of Tanning's favorite works, it was originally titled L'Etreinte, meaning The Embrace or The Stranglehold, inspiring multiple interpretations related to dominance, love, and protection. The Decoy by Edith Rimmington explores themes of death, decay, and regrowth, emitting a haunting sense of beauty. In Leonora Carrington's Portrait of Max Ernst, horses symbolize her alter ego, while a bird represents Max Ernst. Striped stockings, a feathered cloak, and a man carrying a lantern containing a tiny horse allude to the ambivalence in their relationship at the time. And through Lee Miller's lens, viewers have the chance to gain insight into the real-life of Surrealist masters.

Treasures from the Collection of the National Galleries of Scotland

Unleashing Imagination through Diverse Media

National Galleries Scotland: Modern was founded in 1960 as part of the National Galleries of Scotland to collect and exhibit international modern art for the people of Scotland. In the first 30 years the gallery built up a good collection of Surrealist art, including works by Ernst, Magritte, Miró, Arp and Giacometti. In the 1990s the gallery began to acquire major works from the collection of Roland Penrose, major champion of Surrealism. In recent years the Modern gallery has made a concerted effort to acquire works by female and gender non-conforming Surrealists who for too long have not received the attention they deserve. Works by Toyen, Leonora Carrington and Dorothea Tanning have entered the collection, which continues to grow thanks to its reputation as one of the world’s finest collections of surrealist art.

Thanks to the collaboration between MAP and the National Galleries of Scotland, treasures from its superb collection of Surrealist art are now being presented in China for the first time. Both museums share a commitment to bringing art to a wider audience, sparking new inspiration in arts and culture through global loans of works. More than a mere presentation of the developments of Surrealism, the exhibition aims to ignite the imagination of the audience, delve into contemporary society and mindset through the fantastic visions of surrealist masters, and evoke resonance with century-old Surrealism in the contemporary context. A revisit of such a significant yet somewhat overlooked art movement through diverse media leads to a fantastic land brimming with visions and vibrant expressions for art lovers, professionals, kids, and youngsters.

During the exhibition, a variety of Surrealist souvenirs will be available at the museum shop, providing the audience with fun and memorable experiences even after their visit. Moreover, the exhibition pamphlet is specially designed as a homage to René Magritte's classic The Magic Mirror. In addition to Fantastic Visions: 100 Years of Surrealism from the National Galleries of Scotland, other exhibitions like Caravaggio. Wonders of the Italian Baroque, Zeng Fanzhi: Old and New (Paintings 1988-2023) and Xu Bing: Gravitational Arena will also be on view at MAP during the same period. Through a diverse range of exciting and inspiring activities, MAP aims to lead the audience on a surreal adventure that transcends time and space, allowing them to relive and resonate with fantastic visions spanning a hundred years.

【About Museum of Art Pudong (MAP)】

Located at the heart of Xiao Lujiazui, the Museum of Art Pudong (MAP) broke ground on September 26, 2017 and opened to the public in July, 2021. Invested, built, and managed by the Lujiazui Group and designed by Ateliers Jean Nouvel (AJN), MAP is primarily set out to present world-class exhibitions to its audience as well as showcasing domestic artists. The four major functions of MAP include: to hold exhibitions, to promote art education, to develop cultural merchandises, and to advocate for international exchange. MAP aims to become a new cultural landmark of Shanghai and an important platform for international cultural exchange.

【About the National Galleries of Scotland】

We are the National Galleries of Scotland and our three Edinburgh galleries are the National, Modern and Portrait. We house and look after Scotland's amazing world-class art collection. Step inside and explore treasures from Botticelli and Titian to the very best modern art to contemporary portraits of pop culture icons. And, as you'd expect, the world's greatest collection of Scottish art.

We're a space for thinking, dreaming, doing and playing. Soak up the art. Meet friends in the cafés. Have a family picnic surrounded by the sculptures in the Modern grounds. Be inspired by our amazing art films. Choose your own experience. There is no one way to enjoy Scotland's national collection. We are yours to discover.