Student Surrealist Art Exhibit
“Fears and Fascinations of the Fantastic”
Initiated in 1985, this annual juried art exhibition presents work by Florida middle and high school students invited to explore ideas inspired by the work of Salvador Dalí and Surrealism. Students are asked to experiment with such surrealist techniques as visual transformation, dislocation and symbolism. This exhibit is one of three annual student exhibits featured at The Dalí Museum in 2024:
Pinellas County: January 13 – February 25
Hillsborough County: March 16 – April 28
Statewide: May 4 – August 11
This year’s theme, “Fears and Fascinations of the Fantastic,” encourages students to explore the irrational, the spontaneous, the marvelous, the enigmatic and the dreamlike. The Fantastic is a genre characterized by monsters and demons, dreams and temptations, the fragmented body and the supernatural. Artists associated with the Fantastic stretch back to the 1500s and include diverse figures such as Hieronymus Bosch, Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Francisco Goya, Paul Klee and Salvador Dalí.
Several key themes of the Fantastic are monsters and demons, dreams and temptations, the fragmented body and the supernatural. The Fantastic creates a moment of doubt or confusion for the viewer, making one unsure about what is being seen; it is the familiar made strange. Dalí once said, “…I try to create fantastical things, magical things, things like in a dream. The world needs more fantasy.” With this exhibit, our student artists now join this tradition.
The Museum’s juried student exhibitions and receptions are funded by a generous gift from an anonymous donor and in part from a program endowment fund established by the Craig and Jan Sher Philanthropic Fund. Additional support for this educational program comes from our Museum corporate partner, Bloomin’ Brands.
This exhibit is held in the Raymond James Community Room on the ground floor of the Museum. Access to the Museum’s ground floor is free and open to the public. The Raymond James Community Room occasionally closes for private events, in which case, the exhibit will not be accessible.
