Surrealism and Italy

The first intends to present international Surrealism and its arrival in Italy; mediated at first by the work of de Chirico and Savinio returning from Paris in the 1930s, then represented through the works of the masters of the historical movement, which highlight a profound aesthetic and formal heterogeneity (abstract and figurative art), as well as a multitude of media used (painting, collage, assemblage, photography, ready-made, objets trouvés). Important works by Magritte, Dalí, Man Ray, Ernst, Masson, Miró, Tanguy, Duchamp, Matta, Lam, as well as de Chirico are presented here. The second chapter identifies the protagonists of the Italian Surrealist scene, as early as the 1930s, in order to examine their tangencies with the French group, but also – and above all – to highlight their independence and originality. It is possible to observe in Italy the emergence of two main trends: on the one hand, the emergence of a group inspired by new artistic practices and having relations with the French group, as can be seen in the works of Sergio Dangelo or Enrico Baj. On the other, a fantastic figurative strand, characterized by the production of visionary works, to which belong, among others, Leonor Fini, Fabrizio Clerici, Stanislao Lepri, for whom the work of de Chirico and Savinio was capital. The latter attracted international criticism, as shown by their presence in the monographic issue of the American magazine View, published in 1946, entitled Italian Surrealists. Finally, special attention is given to the context of the spread of Surrealism in Italy, highlighting the actors and places that were its originators, particularly gallery owners (Schwarz, Tazzoli, Cardazzo, Del Corso, Jolas, Sargentini, Brin, etc.) and collectors (Guggenheim, Passaré, etc.).