29 June 2010
7pm

Freud's Encounters with Surrealism: Meeting Breton and Dali

Dr. Janine Burke

Freud's contempt both for modern art and Surrealism is well-known. But what does such resistance from Freud, a brilliant art collector, reveal? The Surrealists acknowledged their debt to Freud in the first Surrealist Manifesto and opened a gallery in Paris called Gradiva.

Freud met two major members of the movement: Andre Breton and Salvador Dalí. In 1921, Breton visited Freud at Berggasse while Dalí saw Freud in London in 1938, prior to the move to Maresfield Gardens. Both meetings were disastrous. Subsequently, Breton published an attack on Freud while Dalí was convinced Freud thought he was 'a fanatic'. Dr Burke explores why Surrealism's appropriation of Freud's theories rankled him and offers an analysis of the issues, both personal and aesthetic, that bedevilled Freud's encounters with Surrealism's key players.

More information can be found on The Barbican website.