7 July 2025

Beyond Surrealism: exhibition this autumn

This autumn, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen presents Beyond Surrealism, a group exhibition with six internationally renowned artists. Each has chosen works from the museum’s collection to be shown in dialogue with their own work, and several have produced new works for the exhibition. Because Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen is the only museum in the Netherlands with a world-class collection of Surrealist art, it is the natural venue for such an exploration of the connections between this movement and contemporary art.

Six contemporary artists in dialogue with Surrealist masterpieces from the collection of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen

This autumn, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen presents Beyond Surrealism, a group exhibition with six internationally renowned artists: Kerstin Brätsch (Germany 1979), Monster Chetwynd (UK 1973), Laure Prouvost (France 1978), Tai Shani (UK 1976), Emma Talbot (UK 1969) and Raphaela Vogel (Germany 1988). Each has chosen works from the museum’s collection to be shown in dialogue with their own work, and several have produced new works for the exhibition.

In the exhibition

This visually impressive exhibition will stimulate visitors’ urge to think critically about social issues and to look differently at the world around us. Beyond Surrealism will surprise visitors by showing masterpieces from the museum’s collection in combination with contemporary art, encouraging visitors to think outside the box.

In today’s uncertain and volatile world, many contemporary artists are inspired by Surrealism’s imaginative power and the desire for alternative realities, even if they do not call themselves Surrealists. The six artists in the exhibition use their imagination to address current social issues such as gender, identity, feminism and climate change and to offer fresh perspectives in a complex world in which natural disasters, war and inequality dominate the news.

Saskia van Kampen-Prein, curator of modern and contemporary art at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, explains the concept

Surrealism

The first Surrealist manifesto was published just over a hundred years ago, in 1924. Since then, countless artists from all over the world have been inspired by Surrealism’s heritage and have explored its ideas through poetry and the visual arts. In this sense, Surrealism not a closed chapter in art history but is a living world view, sensibility and mentality.

Salvador Dalí Couple aux têtes pleines de nuages, 1936 Creditline: Collectie Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam. Aankoop met steun van Stichting Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Vereniging Rembrandt, Cultuurfonds, Erasmusstichting, Stichting Bevordering van Volkskracht / Fotografie: Studio Tromp © Salvador Dalí, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, c/o Pictoright Amsterdam 2025

DAS INSTITUT (Adele Röder and Kerstin Brätsch) with Kathrin Sonntag Am Sonntag - When You See Me Again It Won't Be Me, 2016 Presented on Cardboard Stucco Wall at: METAATEM, Kerstin Brätsch, Munch Museum Oslo, 2024 Photo: Uli Holz

Laure Prouvost We Will Keep Cool (Las Pozas), 2024 Tapestry 210 x 254 x 0.9 cm © Laure Prouvost; Courtesy Lisson Gallery.

Exhibition Beyond Surrealism

15 November 2025 to 6 April 2026
In the Depot of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
Save the date – press preview: Thursday 13 November

The exhibition, with a spatial design by Afaina de Jong, opens at the Depot of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen on 15 November. It will be accompanied by a richly illustrated book in Dutch and English, designed by Hansje van Halem, available this autumn from the Depot shop and the museum’s web shop.

After The stories we tell (on view till 26 October), Beyond Surrealism is the second ambitious group exhibition in the large (1000 m2) semi-circular space on the Depot’s fifth floor. From 31 October, you can also see an exhibition of work by Mandy El-Sayegh (1985). For the full programme, visit boijmans.nl.

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Six contemporary artists in dialogue with Surrealist masterpieces from the collection of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen

In the exhibition

Surrealism