The exhibition, the themes

180 works, including paintings, sculptures, drawings, documents, and artifacts, all from the collection of the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum, one of the most important museums in the Netherlands, in dialogue with some works from the Permanent Collection of the Museum of Cultures: this is the heart of the exhibition Dalí, Magritte, Man Ray and Surrealism, hosted at Mudec from March 22 to July 30, 2023.

A major event dedicated to delving into the most dreamlike of the 20th century avant-gardes, reading and rereading it from an original point of view. The curatorship of the exhibition was entrusted to art historian Els Hoek, curator of the Dutch museum, with the collaboration of Alessandro Nigro, professor of History of Art Criticism at the University of Florence, who in particular was entrusted with the exhibition’s thread on the fundamental relationship between Surrealism and native cultures. An approach that highlighted, once again, how Mudec is the ideal venue to host initiatives aimed at stimulating dialogue and confrontation between different cultures.

The interdisciplinary approach and the creation of a schedule of events and opportunities for discussion made it possible to offer the visiting public a 360-degree view of the Surrealist universe, not just an artistic movement but a philosophical manifesto, a poetic thought, an enchanted gaze on an “other” reality that makes it, a hundred years later, incredibly contemporary. The layout is designed to encourage in-depth exploration of the themes: the six sections of the exhibition have been enriched with multimedia and critical apparatus to tell visitors about the premises, motivations and techniques of the Surrealist artists. Artists who attempted to exclude the rational, hoping to create a poetic shock that would change the world.

Beyond the exhibition: between education, books and music

Expanding the narrative beyond the exhibition space, thinking meaningful content for different audiences: organizing a major exhibition like this was an opportunity to create a schedule of initiatives to extend and deepen the message.

The exhibition was accompanied by a structured educational offer geared to different targets and age groups: between animated tours, workshops and surrealist games, the common thread of the proposal was, as always, to stimulate the senses and understand the infinite possibilities of creativity by experiencing it firsthand. We learned something, too: that for children boundless travel and creating worlds and scenarios is an innate gift, so we let them lead and guide us, creating paths in a participatory mode.

Our 24 ORE Cultura brand has produced the exhibition catalog, a publication designed to live independently, but also to dialogue with the other volumes in our catalog devoted to the Surrealist movement, including Exquisite Crocodiles. Automatic Surrealist Life Generator, a true interactive work that exploits the cadavre exquis technique with which the Surrealists composed poems, stories and drawings in collective mode.

Finally, the music festival The Sound of Art brought inside Mudec for an entire week LaFil – Filarmonica di Milano, with concert moments and improvised performances dedicated to exploring the link between music and Surrealism.

The network

The exhibition, produced by 24 ORE Cultura – 24 ORE Group and promoted by the City of Milan – Culture Sector, was made possible thanks to the generous loan of artworks by the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam, the support of Fondazione Deloitte, the exhibition’s Institutional Partner, and BPER as Sponsor.