The past year marked the centenary of the Surrealist Manifesto published by the French poet-philosopher André Breton in 1924. European surrealists drew inspiration from “primitive” and folk art, a perspective that Latin American artists adapted to develop their own distinct visual language. The Surrealist movement emphasised freedom, imagination, and the unconscious, as well as dreamscapes, childhood fantasies, and psychosis. It learned the lyrical potential of other non-occidental worlds.

The exhibition presents magazines and artists’ books, both first editions and dedication copies, all to unveil the complex history of surrealism. The exhibition also aims to offer a fresh perspective on Latin American surrealism.

Organized by the Ibero-American Institute in collaboration with the ZI Lateinamerika-Institut of the Freie Universität Berlin and the Förderkreis des Iberoamerikanischen Instituts (Supporters of the Ibero-American Institute), the exhibition relies on rare library holdings to demonstrate how the Surrealism movement expanded throughout Latin America.

• https://www.iai.spk-berlin.de/en/who-we-are/news-from-the-iai/detail/07-01-2025_ausstellung-surrealismus-in-lateinamerika-zeitschriften-und-kuenstlerbuecher.html https://www.iai.spk-berlin.de/en/who-we-are/news-from-the-iai/detail/07-01-2025_ausstellung-surrealismus-in-lateinamerika-zeitschriften-und-kuenstlerbuecher.html
• https://www.britannica.com/art/Latin-American-art/Surrealism https://www.britannica.com/art/Latin-American-art/Surrealism