Peggy Guggheneim 2021 collection: surrealism, magic, mythology, esotericism in Venice

From 8 May to 13 September 2021 the Peggy Guggenheim Collection presents Surrealism and magic. Enchanted modernity curated by Gražina Subelytė, Exhibition Curator, Peggy Guggenheim Collection. With about sixty works from prestigious international museums, this is the first major exhibition entirely dedicated to the interest nurtured by the Surrealists for the magic, mythology andesotericism. From a chronological point of view, the exhibition ranges from the metaphysical painting by Giorgio de Chirico, dated around 1915, to the iconic painting by Max Ernst The dressing of the bride, from 1940, to the occult imagery of the latest works by Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo. The exhibition, organized by the Peggy Guggenheim Collection with the Museum Barberini, in Potsdam, will subsequently move to Potsdam, from 2 October 2021 to 16 January 2022, with the curatorship of Daniel Zamani, Curator, Museum Barberini, Potsdam.

With the company  Manifesto of Surrealism, published in October 1924, the French writer André Breton he founded a literary and artistic movement that would soon become the leading avant-garde of the time. Fundamental aspect of Surrealism is the redirection of interest towards the world of dream,unconscious and irrational. Numerous surrealist artists also look at magic as a form of poetic and philosophical discourse, linked to arcane knowledge and processes of personal emancipation. In their works, the Surrealists draw heavily on esoteric symbology and nurture the typical notion of the artist as an alchemist, magician or visionary. The fundamental role played by magic in the Surrealist sphere has been widely recognized and studied over the past two decades.

Surrealism and magic. Enchanted modernity presents about sixty works by twenty artists, including Victor Brauner, Leonora Carrington, Salvador Dalí, Giorgio de Chirico, Paul Delvaux, Maya Deren, Max Ernst, Leonor Fini, René Magritte, Maria Martins, Roberto Matta, Wolfgang Paalen, Kay Sage, Kurt Seligmann, Yves Tanguy, Dorothea Tanning, and Remedios Varo. Among the major institutions from which the works come are: Center Pompidou, Paris, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, The Menil Collection, Houston, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Museum of Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art in Rivoli-Turin.

The exhibition is accompanied by a rich illustrated catalog (Prestel, 2021), with essays by Susan Aberth, Will Atkin, Victoria Ferentinou, Alyce Mahon, Kristoffer Noheden, Gavin Parkinson, Gražina Subelytė, and Daniel Zamani.

The exhibition is made possible thanks to the Manitou Fund. With the support of Lavazza, Institutional Patron, Peggy Guggenheim Collection. The educational projects related to the exhibition are realized thanks to the Araldi Guinetti Foundation, Vaduz.