A Trippy New Book Surveys 100 Years of Art Since the Birth of the Surrealist Movement

a portrait of a person with swirling yellow and blue lines

Glenn Brown, “When We Return You Won’t Recognise Us.” Image © Glenn Brown. All images courtesy of Monacelli, shared with permission

Next year marks the 100th anniversary of surrealism, an enduring movement the poet André Breton sparked in 1924. Countless artists across disciplines have been inspired by the uncanny, unconscious, and fantastic, a few of which are celebrated in a forthcoming book written by Robert Zeller.

New Surrealism: The Uncanny in Contemporary Painting, published by Monacelli later this month, chronicles the history of the artistic and political movement from its birth amid World War I to more contemporary interests. Featuring major influences like the aforementioned Breton, Sigmund Freud, and the Dadaists, the 336-page primer travels through the century to highlight the artists, exhibitions, and events that profoundly impacted the genre. The book highlights surrealist icons like Remedios Varo, Salvador Dalí, and Leonora Carrington, along with artists working in the tradition today, including Arghavan Khosravi, Miles Johnston, and Ewa Juskiewicz, whose portrait of a swathed woman graces the cover.

An insightful survey that illuminates the connections between art and politics, New Surrealism is a valuable overview of one of the most influential movements in Western art history. Pre-order your copy on Bookshop.

a woman hides beneath the skirt of a standing woman who looms large over the canvas. another sits in the same position as another women behind her. all are bound by red thread with ancient busts nearby and floral white wallpaper that appears to have an outstretched hand

Arghavan Khosravi, “Ascension.” Image courtesy of Rachel Uffner Gallery

a black and white image of a nude person in the fetal position in the sky while sun beams radiate from their back over an otherwise nighttime landscape

Miles Johnston, “The Would”

a painting of a man who bends over a table awkwardly while a woman seated at the other end stretches out her legs

Lenz Geerk., “The Game.” Photo by Robert Wedemeyer, image © Lenz Geerk

a symmetric work with orbs and geometric shapes that appear like eyes

Alessandro Keegan, “Lumen”

a snake slithers down a stairs with wooden doors in the background. a color scale is on the right side

Pierre Roy, “Danger on the Stairs.” Image © MOMA, Artists Rights Society, New York

a book cover that says New Surrealism: The Uncanny in Contemporary Painting. it has a painting of a woman wearing a white gown in a pastoral setting with fabric wrapped tightly around her face

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