Tate Modern Exhibition

Surrealism Beyond Borders

24 February – 29 August 2022

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Painting of a woman sat on a chair in the middle of a room, a hyena-like animal at her feet, her arm outstretched as if to pet it, with a white rocking horse behind her seemingly leaping through the air towards the curtain-framed window in the background

Leonora Carrington Self Portrait ca. 1937–38 Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, USA) © The estate of the artist, DACS, 2021

This landmark exhibition will rewrite the history of the revolutionary art movement

Surrealism is not a style – but a state of mind. It aims to subvert reality. To find the uncanny in the everyday. To tap into our unconscious desires and bring dreams to life. And for many artists around the world, it has been a way to challenge authority and imagine a new world.

Previous stories of surrealism have focused on Paris in the 1920s. Based on extensive research, this exhibition will reach across the world and over 50 years. It will show how artists around the world have been inspired and united by surrealism – from centres as diverse as Buenos Aires, Cairo, Lisbon, Mexico City, Prague, Seoul, and Tokyo.

Surrealism Beyond Borders is presented in the Eyal Ofer Galleries.

Research supported by Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational in partnership with Hyundai Motor.

Exhibition organised by Tate Modern and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Black and white photomontage collage showing a luxury fashion model sat on a table with two chairs either side, in the background there is an ornate mirror, candles and curtains and through a wall to floor window there is a wolf emerging from the sea.

Toshiko Okanoue The Call 1953 Wilson Centre for Photography © Toshiko Okanoue, Courtesy of The Third Gallery Aya

A painting of a female figure balancing on top of two wooden poles, one under the shoulders, one under the knee caps creating an archway. there are three tiny figures walking underneath disappearing into the distance

Ramses Younan Untitled 1939 Sheikh Hassan M. A. Al-Thani © Estate of Ramses Younan

Painting featuring a table with a female torso on the right, the cross section of a pepper and a bunch of cherries next to a knife on the left with a window in the background looking out at a tree and a mother holding a child's arms helping it walk in fro

Helen Lundeberg Plant and Animal Analogies 1933–34 The Buck Collection at the UCI Institute and Museum for California Art (California, US)

Salvador Dalí
Lobster Telephone (1938)
Tate

© Salvador Dali, Gala-Salvador Dali Foundation/DACS, London 2023

Darkly lit photomontage of a figure dressed in an ornate royal uniform with a white sash across their chest and a lion's head wearing a hat. The scene behind is heavy machinery.

Kaveh Golestan Untitled, from Az Div o Dad series © Kaveh Golestan Estate, Courtesy Archaeology of the Final Decade

Tate Modern

The Eyal Ofer Galleries

Bankside
London SE1 9TG
Plan your visit

Dates

24 February – 29 August 2022

  • Extended opening until 22.00 on 26 August 2022 for Tate Modern Lates
  • Advance booking is recommended ​
  • Members enjoy free entry – no need to book, just turn up with your card

Supported by

With additional support from

The Surrealism Beyond Borders Exhibition Supporters Circle:

Huo Family Foundation (UK) Limited and those who wish to remain anonymous

Tate Americas Foundation

Tate International Council

Tate Patrons and Tate Members

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Prepare to have your artistic expectations exploded

The Times
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A fascinating look at how a movement went global

Evening Standard
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This sprawling survey captures the extraordinary scope of a global artistic explosion

The Guardian

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