TRIUMPH OF DESIRE

triumph of desire - danish and international surrealism

6 september 2008 - 11 january 2009

Salvador Dalí and Wilhelm Freddie. Joan Míro and Ejler Bille. René Magritte and Richard Mortensen. TRIUMPH OF DESIRE spotlights Danish Surrealism and its association with international Surrealism in the 1930s.

Conceived in Paris in the 1920s, Surrealism soon spread across Europe with its wild ideas, sweeping Danish art too. The Danish Surrealists are inspired by the new international stars and create independent artistic expressions which leads to e.g. CoBrA art in the 1940s.

Driven by desire
Surrealism means over-reality. In Surrealist art reality and dream merge in a new, enchanted reality. A state in which man has discarded the shackles of reason and morality. The Surrealists view dream and desire in our subconscious mental life as driving forces that can liberate man and improve society.

TRIUMPH OF DESIRE shows that to the Surrealists the world is a place where anything can be transformed into Surreal experiences and artworks. They are especially interested in the erotic currents they find in the subjects of nature and of the everyday. From grotesque, sexual scenarios to organic growths.

A lobster in the ear
Explore the exhibition. Open your mind and use your imagination. How might it feel to pick up the receiver of Dalí’s “Lobster Telephone”? Is Henry Heerup’s desiccated rat alive? Would you like to be a bird in Max Ernst’s dark forest?

In the exhibition Danish and international works hang next to each other. See how the Surrealists across borders pursue parallel motifs, themes and creative methods. Hunt for the little details that surprise you. The Surrealists are masters of transforming familiar subjects and objects into something strange, poetic, amusing or scary.
Read more about how Freddie was inspired by Magritte

Triumph of Desire is part of the cultural festival Golden Days in Copenhagen.
Read more about the festival