Where else can you experience Surrealism at its most surreal than in Brussels, Belgium at the Magritte Museum? The Magritte Museum is just one of several institutions incorporated within the Royal Museums of Fine Arts that after much anticipation, reopened in October 2023, following a six-month renovation. Holding pride of place on the Kunstberg, (Mont des Arts or Hill of the Arts), the museum boasts the world’s largest collection of the renowned Surrealist artist, René Magritte. Around 230 works and archival material can be viewed in chronological order on three separate levels, starting from the top. The multidisciplinary space features paintings, drawings, sculptures, as well as advertising posters, musical scores, photographs and films. Temporary exhibitions are installed on the main floors off the entry hall.
The most current exhibition, IMAGINE! 100 Years of International Surrealism, celebrates the 100th anniversary of André Breton’s Manifesto and the visually provocative art movement. It explores the common threads that connect nine major themes–The Labyrinth, The Night, The Forest, Mental Landscapes, Metamorphoses & Myths, Chimeras, Dream & Nightmare, The Tears of Eros, and The Cosmos. These commonalities include: the subconscious as a driving force for creation, the principles of metaphors connected to ancient mythology, and the quest for a new mythology for a modern vision of humankind and the world. More than any other art movement, Surrealism influenced international art trends until 1969, when man first set foot on the moon, and Surrealism was disassembled. Talk about a symbolic gesture.
Visitors can immerse themselves in the world and spirit of the leading, international artists of Surrealism including: Félicien Rops, Léon Spillaert, and Fernand Khnopff. Other major works from familiar icons can be viewed, from Magritte to Man Ray, Picasso to Picabia, De Chirico to Dali, as well as Max Ernst, Dorothea Tanning, Leonor Fini, Joan Miró, Lee Miller and more. There are around 140 works of art on display, including paintings, drawings, sculptures, objects, assemblages, and photography, with 28 works on loan from Centre Pompidou. According to Sara Lammens, Director General a.i of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium,
“The title of the exhibition is entirely appropriate, given the Surrealists’ determination to open the doors of our imagination. Imagination is a formidable creative power, allowing thought to break free from its shackles, and this exhibition is a powerful example of that. And if the Surrealists can inspire us today, in 2024, it’s because of the need to put imagination and creativity back at the heart of our lives. After all, is there anything more enchanting than casting an unprejudiced eye on the world we live in and allowing our imaginations to roam free?”
According to the excellent catalog (available in English), “Breton questioned the presence of ‘mystery’ in art and life and concluded that Symbolism survives thanks to the surrender to the marvelous.” I surrendered to the marvels and mysteries of each visionary; beyond apples, clouds and bowler hats.
In the Labyrinth gallery, Giorgio De Chirico’s Portrait of Guillaume Apollinaire pays homage to the French poet who coined the term Surrealism. There are various images of the minotaur, a mythological creature with the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man. Francis Picabia’s bold-hued Adoration of the Calf (1941-42), resembles a heartless despot indifferently regarding an assortment of outstretched arms. Picasso’s etching, Minotaur Caressing the Hand of a Sleeping Woman (1933) evokes eroticism and tenderness.
It was a relief to see a good number of women represented (18 in total), not as tokens, but for their valued contributions and collaborations with other Surrealists. Francisca Vandepitte, Senior Curator of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts, confirms that the Surrealists, “formed initially, a bit of a boy’s club. I wanted to show them as individual artists, and not merely a group of women. They were part of an intellectual network, with an integration of artistic context not needing to be separate. I tried to make a dialogue with the connected artists and their work. If there were substantive links to other artists, I included them.”
The forest was regarded by Surrealists as a place of a mysterious, invisible presence with its silhouettes and shadowy labyrinths, lush vegetation, sensual environs. A symbol of the unconsciousness in the works of Freud and Jung and a familiar location in fairy tales. In her painting, Voice of the Forest (1934), the Czech painter Toyen (born Marie Čermínová), described by the curator as “a hidden pearl,” provides a Rorschach test for the viewer. Is that a headless bird against a weathered tree?
Leonor Fini’s Extreme Night (1977), and Fernand Khnopff’s Sleeping Medusa (1896), present disparate feathered figures with human heads in silent contemplation.
In the Mental Landscapes section, Rita Kernn-Larsen’s The Women’s Uprising (1940) could be a portent to the Feminist movement three decades later, with women’s torsos emerging from upright branches, amidst feminine curves and willowy shapes.
Magritte’s Great Journeys reconstructs this imagery as a sensual extension of a village. Max Ernst’s Swamp Angel offers more puzzles of possibility, while Unica Zürn’s The Castle of Eros incorporates fine drawings within the environs of an oil painting. Metamorphoses & Myths features sculptures by Hans Arp and Alberto Giacometti, photography from Man Ray and André Kertész, and elusive, engaging paintings by Magritte, Paul Delvaux, Marion Adams, and more.
As we approach the last galleries, a notice on the wall of the Tears of Eros section warns: “Due to their sexually explicit nature, some of the artworks in this room may be offensive.” Curator Vandepitte explains that,
“Surrealistic writers and artists were interested in transgression and its many norms. Many were from wealthy families, and they were looking for freedom not only in their art but in their own lives, which encouraged them to develop their own art, and through the art, they expressed themselves. These works were intended to break down the borders of morality.”
Is eroticism in the eye of the beholder? Things begin quite innocently on the first wall, where A Glove (1881-1898), 10 aquatint etchings, depict an ordinary incident that evolves into a story of passion and desire. On the adjacent wall, the viewer is then confronted with more explicit examples by Magritte’s drawings for Georges Bataille’s salacious book Madame Edwarda, and Czech Surrealist Jindrich Ŝtyrský’s provocative set of prints, Emilie Comes to Me in a Dream (1933).
IMAGINE! was developed as a partnership with the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, under the initiative of esteemed Assistant Director Didier Ottinger. Says Vandepitte: “The idea was to focus on surrealist art creation from the vantage point of symbolist ideas in an international context. He wished to reconsider the diversity and impact from different perspectives. To give each institution the opportunity to develop their own story in relationship to their collection and focus on their own heritage. All of our collective research will be accumulated and presented at the end of this innovative story. To avoid repetition, we want to add something new based on recent research as a contribution in multiple aspects for a new generation.” She emphasizes that “it is not a traveling exhibition that goes from city to city, rather an evolving exhibition project presented in five cities.”
With Magritte and Symbolism as its focal points, IMAGINE! opened in Brussels in March and will close on July 21. The story continues in Paris at Centre Pompidou from September 4 to January 13, 2025, where the focus will be on the Labyrinth and Breton’s Manifesto, as well as literary figures who were inspired by the movement including Lautréamont, Lewis Carroll, and Sade. The exhibition will then be presented from February 4 to May 1, 2025 at Madrid’s Fundación MAPFRE, featuring Spanish Surrealism along with the vision of acclaimed film director Luis Bunuel. From June 12, 2024 to October 12, 2025, it travels to the Hamburger Kunsthalle, where Surrealism’s relationship with German Romanticism will be emphasized, including the poetic contributions of Max Ernst. From November 2025 to February 2026, the Philadelphia Museum of Art will present its own variation, featuring an impressive collection of Marcel Duchamp’s works.
Vandepitte concludes: “In involving these other institutions, our collective research between surrealism and symbolism will be accumulated at the end of this innovative story in multiple perspectives. We wanted to add something new based on recent research, based on the contributions of a new generation of scholars and curators. And especially, to avoid repetition from studies done 25 years ago or more. It’s interesting for me to see how the other colleagues will utilize similar topics from their point of view. Together, it’s going to be one big birthday celebration.”
René Magritte and Jean-Michel Folon: A Tale of Two Surrealists
As part of the 100 Year Anniversary of Surrealism, the Magritte Museum is also presenting Magritte-Folon through July 21. The exhibition highlights the resonances between the works, links, and distinctive features of the two Belgian artists. Although they never met, René Magritte (1898-1967) and Jean-Michel Folon (1934-2005) shared connections between their worlds, and Folon considered the master of Belgian Surrealism, 36 years his senior, to be “one of the fathers’’ of his generation. This exhibition feels more like a long-awaited dialogue between the fascinating universe of Magritte and the poetic creations of Folon. There is a subtle kinship between the two, yet the differences are significant.
In his early years as an artist, Folon avoided Magritte, wishing to follow his own path without influence. According to curator of Temporary Exhibitions at Fondation Folon, Pauline Loumaye:
“They are two poets with a very defined vocabulary, using similar techniques and playing with metaphors. Magritte had a more dominant color vocabulary with a clear construction of the symbols he carefully selected. Folon used softer techniques with a muted color palette, which he was criticized for in his late career. They are each inventing mysteries and making people ask questions about life and society. And art is here to make us dream and wonder and debate, so in that, they are compatible. Folon was not in one particular artistic movement, and therefore was not recognized by Academics, or even that well-known. But he did not wish to be stuck in one drawer, and preferred his artistic freedom.”
When I ask what she thinks it would have been like if Folon could have met Magritte, she replies: “I think they would have some fun, possibly create together, and see the world through each other’s eyes. I think Folon would have asked him many questions.”
In honor of the 90th anniversary of Folon’s birth, there are several other venues in Brussels presenting his diverse oeuvre: Folon Insolite at Maison Autrique, one of the splendid Art Nouveau houses designed by Victor Horta, showcases Folon’s work in a variety of media, and can be seen through September 29. The Design Museum offers Olivetti-Folon, through September 15, which provides insight into the world of advertising design during a progressive period. In October 2000, Folon founded a museum in the Château de la Hulpe farm , a 560 acre nature reserve just 20 minutes (15km) from Brussels. Fondation Folon boasts 15 exhibition halls which showcase the multidisciplinary artist’s iconic images, including inks, water colors, paintings, etchings, posters, objects, and sculptures.
Cover Photo by Magritte Museum © RMFAB
(May 2024)
See more of our coverage of Belgium.
Leave a Reply