Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1540685
N ever doubt that we are living in surreal times — a fact mirrored by the international art world. Three must-see shows on the centennial of the global Surrealism movement make for heady viewing this season. Begin at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the lucky institution that's the final stop — and sole U.S. venue — for the epic exhibition "Dreamworld: Surrealism at 100," organized by the Centre Pompidou, Paris. Six thematic sections lay out the history of the movement from poet/artist André Breton's Manifesto of Surrealism to its post-World War II iterations: Waking Dream, Natural History, Desire, Premonition of War, Exiles, and Magic Art. What you'll see: iconic artists The New Main and touchstone artworks, from Salvador Dalí's droll Aphrodisiac Telephone, 1938, to objets, paintings, sculptures, photographs, and collages by a who's who of European, Mexican, and American Surrealism: René Magritte, Giorgio de Chirico, Max Ernst, Hans Bellmer, Joseph Cornell, Lee Miller, Frida Kahlo, Leonora Carrington, and Remedios Varo, as well as those not identified with the movement but whose early works dipped into the surreal, including Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko. November 8, 2025 – February 16, 2026, visitpham.org. Another encyclopedic exhibition — "International Surrealism," this time culled from London's Tate rich trove — travels to Texas, opening at the Dallas Museum of Art, where its presentation is organized by the DMA's American art curator Sue Canterbury. Canterbury writes in a museum statement, "Surrealism wasn't just a movement or a singular artistic style, it was a way of life. This exhibition offers our viewers a glimpse into this revolution of the mind and the evocative, fantastical and often unsettling images that surrealism produced." Among the more than 100 artworks selected are those that focus upon a wide geographic swath (Cuban painter Wifredo Lam, Mozambique talent Malangatana Ngwenya) as well the role women played, both leading stars (Dorothea Tanning, Leonora Carrington) and rediscovered Argentinian artists (painter- photographer Eileen Agar and painter- designer Leonor Fini). Other lesser-known players that "International Surrealism" pulls back the curtain on include British painter Tristram Hillier, Italian artist Enrico Baj, and Irish sculptor F.E. McWilliam. November 2, 2025 – March 22, 2026, dma.org. Finally, the buzziest show opening in NYC this fall is the Whitney Museum of American Art's expansive (111 artists!) deep dive into the decade of the '60s to posit a revisionist look at the years 1958 to 1972 in From top left: Salvador Dalí's Aphrodisiac Telephone, 1938, at Philadelphia Museum of Art. Dorothea Tanning's Birthday, 1942, at Philadelphia Museum of Art. By Catherine D. Anspon MINNEAPOLIS INSTITUTE OF ART PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART