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Fantastic Surreal

The Collection

Feb 16–Sep 6, 2020
@Kunsthaus Zug
8

The progeny of another world, witnesses to dreamscapes and fantastical beings. To begin its anniversary year of 2020, the Kunsthaus Zug shows what was a focus of the collection right from the start: Swiss surrealist and fantastic art.

It might have seemed a surreal step in itself when the Zuger Kunstgesellschaft began contemplating setting up its own collection towards the end of the 1970s. How could they differentiate themselves from the established art institutions? The maverick, idiosyncratic aspects of the surreal and fantastic trends in art are what remain attractive about this collection focus, down to the present day.

The exhibition Fantastic Surreal addresses different varieties of Surrealism – which was more an attitude of mind than a style. With Meret Oppenheim and Kurt Seligmann, those Swiss artists who participated actively in the Surrealist scene in Paris are also represented. This exhibition will open up new perspectives on a collection that continues to grow: some works have never before been put on display, while unexpected connections will emerge between objects that we thought we already knew.

Curated by Marco Obrist

Artists

Hans Arps, Karl Ballmer, Serge Brignoni, Günter Brus, Heidi Bucher, Miriam Cahn, Giorgio de Chirico, Trudi Demut, Martin Disler, Enrico Donati, Marcel Duchamp, James Ensor, Max Ernst, Kurt Fahrner, Ernst Fuchs Julio González, Walter Grab, Josef Herzog, Bethan Huws, Irman Ineichen, Eugène Ionesco, Emanuel Jacob, Friedrich Kiesler, Paul Klee, Alfred Kubin, Friedrich Kuhn, Wilfredo Lam, Fernand Léger, Ernst Maas, Henry Michaux, Walter J. Moeschlin, Max von Moos, Edvard Munch, Meret Oppenheim, Pablo Picasso, Arnulf Rainer, Dieter Roth, Fritz Roth, Hans Schaerer, Philipp Schibig, Klaudia Schifferle, Jean-Frédéric Schnyder, Kurt Schwitters, Kurt Seligmann, Bernhard Schobinger, Jules Spinatsch, Walter Steffen, Annelies Štrba, André Thomkins, Josephine Troller, Otto Tschumi, Hannah Villiger, Ilse Weber, Walter Kurt Wiemken, Eva Wipf, Adolf Wölfli, Muz Zeier

The exhibition was generously supported by:

Glencore Private Donors

Exhibition views with artworks by the following artists:

Serge Brignoni, Alfred Kubin, Fernand Léger, Max von Moos, Meret Oppenheim, Otto Tschumi © 2024, ProLitteris, Zurich / Miriam Cahn, Irma Ineichen, Friedrich Kiesler, Paul Klee, Friedrich Kuhn, Edvard Munch, Dieter Roth, Fritz Roth, Jean Frederique Schnyder, Josephine Troller, Hannah Villiger, Walter Kurt Wiemken, Eva Wipf