VIVIANE SASSEN
calendar The tears of ErosThe tears of Eros, 15 February 2020 - 24 May 2020
Discover the contemporary in surrealism in The tears of Eros: Moesman, Surrealism and the Sexes. Johannes Moesman (1909-1988) was the only Dutch artist to be formally ranked among the surrealists.
This exhibition contextualizes his oeuvre with that of his famous international peers, including Salvador Dalí, René Magritte and Max Ernst. Furthermore, and for the first time in the Netherlands, female surrealists such as Claude Cahun, Leonora Carrington and Leonor Fini will feature prominently. The tears of Eros presents work by contemporary artists including Sarah Lucas, Gillian Wearing, Paul Kooiker and Viviane Sassen, reinforcing surrealism's continuity into our time. Moesman depicted his fantasies at a time when sexual nonconformity was very much a taboo subject, especially in the Netherlands.
The surrealists were eager to address themes of sex as a way of escaping from the suffocating conservativism of their time. Almost one hundred years after the birth of surrealism, we still contend with complex social issues centered around shifting power relations between men, women, and other, such as the #MeToo movement, gender nonconformity, and reproductive rights. How did the surrealists depict their views on the masculine and the feminine? And what is our reaction today to their representations of sexuality and gender?
The tears of Eros, 15 February 2020 - 24 May 2020
Centraal Museum Utrecht
Utrecht, the Netherlands
