Midnight in Paris: Surrealism at the Crossroads

Press Release November 22, 2019

©Salvador Dalí, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, (ARS), 2019 © Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI

Salvador Dalí, Dormeuse, cheval, lion invisibles (Invisible Sleeping Woman, Horse, Lion), 1930. Oil on canvas. Centre Pompidou, Paris, Musée national d’art moderne/Centre de creation industrielle.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Paris, 1929: An avant-garde hothouse rife with artistic conflict and friendly rivalry, fueled in the wake of a tragic world war. Would painting survive the new experiments with photography, film and collage? Would politics replace art? Midnight in Paris: Surrealism at the Crossroads, 1929 will immerse audiences in this particularly rich and vital creative awakening by examining the work, friendships and clashes of over 20 artists of the era. That tumultuous year also marked a crucial watershed in particular for Salvador Dalí, who first appeared on the scene with the film Un Chien Andalou. The Dalí Museum’s special exhibition will feature works by artists who have defined the course of art for nearly a century, including Jean Arp, André Breton, Luis Buñuel, Alexander Calder, Giorgio de Chirico, Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst, Alberto Giacometti, René Magritte, Joan Miró, Francis Picabia, Man Ray, Yves Tanguy and others.

René Magritte, Le modèle rouge (The Red Model), 1935. Oil on canvas mounted on cardboard. Centre Pompidou, Paris, Musée national d’art moderne/Centre de creation industrielle.

Through a host of 20th-century works from the renowned Centre Pompidou in Paris, Midnight in Paris brings to life the personal relationships and the intellectual passions that threatened to tear apart the newly formed artistic movement called Surrealism. Just as this art form began to penetrate Western culture, from literature to fashion to advertising, disagreements erupted among its famous practitioners. Are dreams or spontaneous emotions more central to image-making? Should painting take precedence, or are more technical approaches and media more effective tools? Perhaps most importantly, how could Surrealism embody the concerns and values of a new class of activist artists shaped by the profound destruction of the first World War?

“As the preeminent movement of its era, Surrealism reached an innovative turning point in 1929, a crisis of consciousness that has had a sweeping impact on visual art ever since,” said Dr. Hank Hine, executive director of The Dalí Museum. “The Dalí Museum, with its outstanding legacy, collection and international partnerships, looks forward to affording our visitors this rare window into one of the most critical epochs in cultural history.”

Organized by the Centre Pompidou, Paris, and The Dalí Museum, Midnight in Paris will be on view at The Dalí Museum Nov. 23, 2019, through April 5, 2020, its first and only appearance in North America. It is curated by Dr. William Jeffett, chief curator of special exhibitions at The Dalí Museum, and Didier Ottinger, deputy director of the Musée national d’art moderne at the Centre Pompidou.

The Dalí Museum’s unique installation was adapted from a selection of works organized by Dr. Ottinger and previously exhibited at the Palazzo Blu in Pisa and the Hungarian National Gallery in Budapest.

Max Ernst, Chimère (Chimera), 1928. Oil on canvas. Centre Pompidou, Paris, Musée national d’art moderne/Centre de creation industrielle.

The exhibition is designed for visitors to stroll through the streets of Paris, with a focus on the paintings, photographs, sculptures and personalities of iconic Surrealist artists. The exhibition will also feature archival film and documents from the movement, as well as several rarely loaned Salvador Dalí works, including one of his earliest double-image paintings.

Midnight in Paris is sponsored by St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport (PIE).

About The Dalí Museum
The Dalí Museum, located in the heart of picturesque downtown St. Petersburg, Florida, is home to an unparalleled collection of over 2,400 Salvador Dalí works, including nearly 300 oil paintings, watercolors and drawings, as well as more than 2,100 prints, photographs, posters, textiles, sculptures and objets d’art. The Museum’s nonprofit mission, to care for and share its collection locally and internationally, is grounded by a commitment to education and sustained by a culture of philanthropy.

The Dalí is recognized internationally by the Michelin Guide with a three-star rating; has been deemed “one of the top buildings to see in your lifetime” by AOL Travel News; and named one of the ten most interesting museums in the world by Architectural Digest. The building itself is a work of art, including a geodesic glass bubble, nicknamed The Enigma, featuring 1,062 triangular glass panels, a fitting tribute to Salvador Dalí’s legacy of innovation and transformation. Explore The Dalí anytime with the free Dalí Museum App, available on Google Play and in the App Store. The Dalí Museum is located at One Dalí Boulevard, St. Petersburg, Florida 33701.