Between the 1930s and the 1960s, the notion of Surrealism was remarkably dynamic, particularly as it was applied to painting in Europe and the Americas. Some questions were charged topics negotiated by artists and writers on both sides of the Atlantic: Who was a Surrealist? How should the paintings look? In which contexts are these works best shown? In this talk, Caitlin Haskell, the Art Institute of Chicago’s Gary C. and Frances Comer Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, considers three artists loosely or closely associated with Surrealism who have been subjects of her recent research: Salvador Dalí, Frida Kahlo, and Remedios Varo. The talk addresses each artist respectively, focusing on a specific project or body of work that offered a new proposition for what Surrealist painting might be: Dalí’s Dream of Venus (New York, 1939), Kahlo’s participation in the exhibition “Mexique” (Paris, 1939), and Varo’s paintings for her first solo exhibition (Mexico City, 1956).

Caitlin Haskell, Gary C. and Frances Comer Curator, Director Ray Johnson Collection and Research, Modern and Contemporary Art, The Art Institute of Chicago