Surrealism at the Reina Sofia Museum

Surrealism at the Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid.

There was quite a large section of Surrealist works in the museum's collection and I am reproducing some of them here.

Surrealism originated as a literary movement that used the written word in all its forms as a loudspeaker for its aesthetic ideas. These ideas would form the base of a fruitful artistic practice. With the publication in 1924 of the First Manifesto of Surrealism, Andre Breton defined the movement's basic principles. These principles included the importance of writing as the main vehicle in the artist's psyche; automatic writing; and an idealism that sought values such as the imagination, beauty, profoundness and love.

The movement originated in Europe in the aftermath of WWI in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike scenes and ideas. Its intention was, according to Andre Breton, to 'resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality into an absolute reality, a super-reality', or surreality. Works of Surrealism feature the element of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions and non sequitur. 

The dissemination of the movement and its ideological and artistic development, proposals and debates were expressed in an array of magazines which were, according to Breton, 'a means of contact catering to the different and changing expectations of a corresponding, undefined audience. They give us a respiratory rhythm adapted, at the same time, to our vital needs and to the nature of ambient air'.

Based primarily in Paris, the Surrealists gained international exposure in the 1930s, which spread across different European countries, before reaching the USA, Japan and Egypt.

From the publication of the Second Manifesto the movement edged closer to more revolutionary stances. Breton was explicit in his assertion that Surrealism was, above all, a revolutionary movement. At the time, the movement was associated with political causes such as communism and anarchism. Breton and other Surrealists attacked the French government for the exploitation and oppression of colonised people. 

Oscar Dominguez, Butterlifes Lost in the Mountains

Oscar Dominguez, Guanche Cave, 1935

Maruja Mallo, Den of Fossils, 1940

Juan Ismael, (Ismael Gonzalez Mora), Head Over Heels Love, 1935

Joan Miro, Woman and Dog in Front of the Moon, 1935

Vassily Kandinsky, Free, 1927

To see more of Kandinsky's work go here

Willi Baumeister, Tennis Player on Yellow, 1933

Pablo Picasso, Woman in a Garden, 1930-32

To see more of Picasso's work go here , here , here (even though this last one, is a general post, there is quite a lot of Picasso in it, interesting pieces, but also some Juan Miro and Kazimir Malevich) 

Pablo Picasso, The Swimmer, 1934

Yves Tanguy, Belomancy I, 1927

Max Ernst, The Beautiful German Woman, 1934-35

Max Ernst, Red Birds, 1926

Francis Picabia, Amsel ou Sagesse, 1930

Joan Miro, Painting (Swallow), 1937

Salvador Dali, The Endless Enigma, 1938

To see more of Dali you can go here

Rene Magritte, Pink Bells, Tattered Skies, 1930.

Salvador Dali, Gradiva Rediscovers the Anthropomorphic Ruins, 1932

Joan Miro

Rene Magritte, La Clef des Champs, 1936

Salvador Dali, Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee around a Pomegranate a Second before Waking up, 1944.

To see more on Surrealism you can go here , here , and here

Marlene Dumas - Cycladic Blues, Part 2

Marlene Dumas - Cycladic Blues, part 2

at the Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens.

This is the second part of this thought-provoking exhibition. You can see part 1 here .

I am including here the introduction to part 1, so that if people do not wish to look at the first part, they can still get an over-view of the work of this artist. If hyou have read this already, skip this and go to the first picture below.

Dumas was born in South Africa during the years of Apartheid but has lived and worked in Amsterdam for nearly five decades. The artist has spent her career using painting to explore all human states of being ranging from violence, mourning and melancholy to joy and tenderness. She's done this over and over by taking the human body as her subject.

This exhibitionjn brings together a diverse range of over 40 of the artist's works spanning the past three decades. Whether it's in ink, crayon and pencil drawings on paper or some of her more monumentally scaled vertical canvases, these are testaments to the whole of human experience - life and death, love and hate, rememberance and forgetfulness. Dumas has suggested that 'painting is about the trace of the human touch'.

Dumas' paintings explore sexuality, love, death, motherhood, intimate relationships and political issues, often referencing art history, popular culture and current affairs. She describes her approach as one in which 'second-hand images generate first-hand emotions'. She infuses her source materials with personal feelings from her own lived experience.

She examines the complexities of identity and the nature of human existence, highlighting the unexpected coexistence of violence and innocence. Usually politically charged, her work addresses social injustices, challenging us to consider the often elusive truth. She works without a predetermined plan, relying on her intuition, resulting in works full of ambiguity.

I love Dumas' work and experiencing her work alongside ancient objects from the Cycladic civilisation - a prehistoric culture that existed between 3000 and 1000 BC, about which we know little - was very touching. I love the female figurines of that civilisation, some of which are depicted with their belly pronounced, perhaps indicating pregnancy, and which are so mysterious and so minimalist.

In this wonderful, round room, some of Dumas' drawings are exhibited 

In the middle of the room,

Statuette of a Boy Holding a Hare, 3rd c. BC, (marble)

Dorothy D-Lite, 1998, (ink and acrylic on paper)

Young Boy (Pale Skin), 1996, (ink wash and watercolour on paper)

Give me the Head of John the Baptist, 1992, (ink, crayon and pencil on paper), 17 drawings

Dumas' daughter Helena and her first grandchild, Eden, feature in many of her works, usually gentle works. Sometimes, though, Helena is depicted as a child figure, but not as herself.

In this series of 17 drawings, Give me the Head of John the Baptist, Dumas explains that 'the worlds of actuality, literature and imagination are intertwined. Here, the story gets darker. Cultures may differ, but the essential problems regarding pleasure and pain always remain the same: being born, being young, being attractive and seductive, being betrayed and attacked, being old and trying not to die'.

This installation of 17 drawings is a free rendering of the Biblical story of Salome and John the Baptist. Imprinted with ink, pastel and pencil, Dumas' drawings depict this story of desire and discontent in a dreamy and almost cinematic way. It  is a story that shows the power of desire - it involves a dance, a promise and a tragic request.  

Salome's dance led the king to give her what she asked for - John the Baptist's head. The drawings capture the tragic moment of the crushing of childlike innocence by violence and desire. They include scenes depicting Salome holding the Baptist's bloody head, herself dancing with his head on a disc before his body is dismembered, a close-up of John's disembodied head with the words 'No Body' engraved at the buttom of the frame.

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'My smaller drawings show that my work is not really naturalistic, clearly. All of these works on paper in the exhibition are simplified and imaginary bodies. Words like 'unfinished', 'fragment', 'detail', come to mind. Was a head left out for a reason or torn off in frustration? Why is the neck so elongated? By renaming a work, it can move from the past to being more recent history. Sometimes it can also be humorous and cartoon-like, as reflected in the title Whatever Happened to the Greeks?!'

Whatever Happened to the Greeks?! 2020, (mixed media on paper)

The Conversation in the Garden of Eden, 1998, (mixed media on paper)

Long Neck, (fragment), 1998, (mixed media on paper)

Trapped, 2001, (mixed media on paper)

Anguish, 2000, (ink and pencil on paper)

Jesus Looking for his Cross, 1994, (mixed media on paper)

Head, 2019, (metallic acrylic on paper)

Torso, 1998, (mixed media on paper)

Back, 1994, (mixed media on paper)

To see more work by Marlene Dumas go  here