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The Arts Intel Report

PHotoESPAÑA 2024: Surrealist Centennial

Kati Horna, Untitled, Mexico City, 1962.

June 6 – Sept 14, 2024
C. de José Ortega y Gasset, 34, Salamanca, 28006 Madrid, Spain

People associate Surrealism with René Magritte’s bowler hats and Salvador Dalí’s melting clocks. And even when other artists come to mind, they aren’t usually photographers. For the centenary of the Surrealist Manifesto, written in 1924 by André Breton, the Loewe Foundation and the PHotoESPAÑA Festival aim to change that. Their joint exhibition demonstrates the ways in which photography was a natural tool for Surrealists. Playing with exposure, lighting, props, and film, photographers could easily distort reality and achieve strange effects. Artists represented in the exhibition include Dora Maar and Kati Horna, as well as individuals less frequently associated with Surrealism, such as Tina Modotti, Hiro, Kiki Smith, and Ana Mendieta. —Jeanne Malle