A Slew of Shows Celebrates Surrealist Women

Philomena Epps | Frieze | 17th September 2020

Few art movements have been as determinedly misogynistic as surrealism. Breton, its founder, regarded the role of women in art as the “passive muse”. Multiple exhibitions over the last decade have shown that women in fact played a much bigger role. They were lively contributors – at least, that is, before quitting, fed up with lack of recognition. Relative to men, says one curator, the women were “more daring, both in their personal lives and their art”.