The Modern Art from 1930: Surrealism and Neo-Romanticism exhibition at the National Museum Cardiff shines a brilliant light on the introduction and advancement of the surrealist movement into British art.
Though surrealism can be traced back to the early 1920s, in the aftermath of the Dada activities that developed out of World War 1, it wasn’t until The International Surrealist
Exhibition in London in 1936 that the movement took root in Britain.
The gallery at the National Museum Cardiff displays many of the first surrealist works to be produced by British artists. It includes more than a few that featured at the original 1936 exhibition, like Julian Trevelyan, Graham Sutherland, Henry Moore, Eileen Agar, John Banting and Paul Nash.
Excellently displayed, with great write-ups and information panels, the Modern Art from 1930: Surrealism and Neo-Romanticism exhibition is massively absorbing. The Artist in Focus display on Merlyn Evans is worth the visit all by itself.
In addition to Modern Art from 1930, the expanded art gallery at the National Museum Cardiff also contains a host of other superb exhibitions, including Art after Cézanne, British Art Around 1900, French Art of the Nineteenth Century and French Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, as well as a great tribute to the contribution to the collection at Cardiff by Gwendoline and Margaret Davies.
The Modern Art from 1930: Surrealism and Neo-Romanticism exhibition, National Museum Cardiff review: 5/5
