Surrealism - by Acc Art Books (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Official book accompanying the blockbuster centenary celebration of Surrealism at the Centre Pompidou, Paris; 4 September 2024 - 13 January 2025. This essential catalogue explores the legacy of the art movement that changed everything.

"Organisers say it is an unprecedented way to organise an exhibition: while some works and themes remain constant in each city, others change and each museum tells its own story. Perfect, then, for a movement that always aimed to subvert traditional artistic norms." -- The Guardian

"... This blend of scholarly insight and artistic exploration makes the catalogue not only visually stunning but intellectually enriching." -- Artlyst

The defining book for the centenary of Surrealism.

From September 2024 to January 2025, the Centre Pompidou will celebrate the 100th anniversary of André Breton's Surrealist Manifesto. For the next two years, their unprecedented Surrealist exhibition will tour the art galleries of the world, accompanied by this special catalog.

Perhaps more than any other artistic movement, Surrealism had a cataclysmic effect on the modern mind, changing forever the way we think about experiencing the world. By rejecting the gross linearity that typified several centuries of preceding artworks, the legendary Surrealists - Magritte, Ernst, Carrington, Dalí, Tanning and so many others - reached beyond the façade of that which is patently visible and found something more.

Like the great works that fill its pages, Surrealism offers a departure from singletrack thinking, with a multi-directional layout and an uninhibited design. Featuring original essays from leading academics and excerpts from the Surrealist Manifesto itself, this stands among the most essential Surrealist catalogs ever published.

Review Quotes

"Within the pages of Surrealism: First and Always, readers will find original essays from venerable academics that delve into the significance and ongoing relevance of Surrealism, as well as excerpts from the Surrealist Manifesto itself. This blend of scholarly insight and artistic exploration makes the catalogue not only visually stunning but intellectually enriching." -Artlyst

"...plunges us into this whimsical, bizarre, colorful, sometimes funny, sometimes disturbing, sometimes poetic universe."--Exhibition Review "Sortiraparis.com"

"André Breton's rarely seen handwritten Surrealist manifesto take[s] centre stage at a Centre Pompidou exhibition, which includes masterpieces of the movement and gives prominence to overlooked artists."--Exhibition Review "The Art Newspaper"

"Of all the modernist art movements, it was the surrealists who were best at enjoying their revolution. In the Pompidou's perfectly judged exhibition, that pleasure shines through as you meet these artists, all dead now, not so much as giants of art history as extremely amusing companions...Yet the real mystery uncovered is how an art movement that didn't take itself seriously and has often been dismissed as modernism lite engendered such masterpieces."--Exhibition Review "The Guardian"