Surrealism as Antifascism: Warsaw Exhibition Reveals Movement's Political Roots

The Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw is showcasing "In the Very Bowels of Change: Surrealism and Antifascism," adapted from a 2024 exhibition at Lenbachhaus Munich. This exhibit posits that Surrealism served as a political reaction against fascism. It begins with Luis Buñuel's 1930 film "Golden Age," which incited backlash from the Antisemitic League of France. Notable pieces include "paper bullets" by Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore, a drawing by Hans Bellmer from Camp des Milles, and figures by Victor Brauner. The exhibition also features works by Polish and Czech artists, such as Władysław Strzemiński and Holocaust survivors. Highlights encompass a photo of Salvador Dalí from the 1936 International Surrealist Exhibition and Picasso's "Monument to the Spaniards Who Died for France," along with a reference to Georges Bataille's 1933 essay.