a group of men posing for a photo

100 Years of Surrealism Conference

In a momentous celebration of Surrealism’s centennial, marked by the publication of the “First Surrealist Manifesto” in 1924, The Dalí Museum will host a conference in 2024 titled “100 Years of Surrealism.”

In 2004, The Dalí Museum held a landmark conference in St. Petersburg, FL, in honor of the centenary of Salvador Dalí’s birth, generating groundbreaking scholarship that has defined the field of Surrealism studies ever since. Twenty years later, we now invite a cohort of these same scholars—distinguished experts at the forefront of their respective areas of specialization—to gather once again in celebration of the centennial of Surrealism and to lead panels fostering a new generation of research into still under-explored dimensions of the movement and its influence. 

Penned by André Breton, the French writer and poet who pioneered the movement following the First World War, the Manifesto defined Surrealism as a means of revealing the “actual functioning of thought.” Promoting self-expression that was unfiltered by convention or reflection, Breton attracted visual artists to the movement, breaking free from the constraints of rational thought and conventional artistic forms. Salvador Dalí’s entry into the movement in 1929 extended the nature and the reach of Surrealism in dramatic ways. The Dalí Museum provides an ideal laboratory to consider Surrealism and its legacies.

When: December 13-15, 2024

Where: The Dalí Museum

Surrealist Group (Paul Éluard, Hans Arp, Yves Tanguy, René Crevel, Tristan Tzara, André Breton, Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst, Man Ray), 1931
Photo by Man Ray.