Abstraction is now generally considered to be representative of modernism. But it first achieved its dominant position in the post-war period. Surrealism existed at the same time as abstraction. Characteristic features of this art movement are the integration of the unconscious into the creative process and often narrative, figurative forms of expression.

Numerous examples of Surrealist and Surrealist-related art can be found in the Viktor and Marianne Langen Collection. Alongside historical avant-garde works, among them paintings by Max Ernst, Salvador Dalí and Yves Tanguy, these particularly include post-war art by such artists as Arman, Henri Michaux, Joseph Cornell, Sam Francis, Domenico Gnoli and Louise Bourgeois. How do these non-rational works contend from a present-day perspective with a Concetto Spaziale by Lucio Fontana, a monochrome painting by Yves Klein or a composition by Piet Mondrian? By deliberately juxtaposing these two avant-garde styles, the exhibition scrutinizes the hitherto valid hierarchy of modernism: Is it still applicable from today’s perspective?

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Salvador Dalí, Moment de Transition, 1934 © Salvador Dalí, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2013