Surrealist Art at the New York Guggenheim Museum
Museum Overview
The Guggenheim Museum in
New York is more than just a museum. It is an internationally renowned institution
where people can see art, learn about art, watch films related to art or attend
events connected to art. It is a modern and contemporary art museum whose magnificent
building has also become a "must-see" tourist site before even stepping over the
threshold.
Plan Your Visit
The Guggenheim Museum is situated at 1071 Fifth Avenue at 89th Street. In order
to plan your visit it is important to know that the museum is closed on Thursdays.
It is open from Sunday to Wednesday and on Fridays from 10am to 5.45pm. On Saturdays
the museum stays open till 7.45pm. The museum is closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas
Eve and Christmas Day and some galleries may close earlier than the main museum
so it is worth checking this when you arrive in order to avoid missing anything
you particularly want to see.
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Tickets cost $18 for adults. There are concessions for students and seniors at $15
and for children under 12 admission is free.
Surrealist Art at the Guggenheim Museum
The Guggenheim Museum is not actually divided into different departments according
to art genres but amongst the artworks displayed in the main museum one can find
masterpieces spanning all the genres and years of contemporary and modern art history
including surrealism.
Surrealism actually began as a literary movement before developing into an artistic
one. The surrealist movement was pioneered by Andre Breton in France in the 1920s
who together with his circle of poets and artists explored Sigmund Freud's world
of dreams and the uncanny. They were inspired by the poetry of Stephane Mellarme
and Arthur Rimbaud and the writings of Guillaume Apollinaire. They were also inspired
by the metaphysical paintings of Giorgio de Chirico, symbolism and ethnography.
Surrealist artworks at the Guggenheim include work by Jean Arp such as "Overturned
Blue Shoe with Two Heels under a Blue Vault" and "Head and Shell". Other surrealist
artists featured at the Guggenheim include William Baziotes, Victor Brauner, the
aforementioned Giorgio de Chirico, Joseph Cornell, Salvador Dali, Paul Delvaux,
Max Ernst and many more.
In 1999 there was a special exhibition of surrealist art at the Guggenheim Museum
called "Surrealism: Two Private Eyes, The Nesuhi Ertegun and Daniel Filipacchi Collections"
which presented the most exceptional private collection of Surrealist art which
summed up four decades of friendship and sometimes rivalry between these two great
masters of art.
New York is the perfect venue for viewing surrealist artworks because The Big Apple
became the world center for surrealist activity when exiled artists sought to recreate
the community they had left in Paris.