“Decades after its demise, Surrealism still flourishes in Prague

Surrealism came belatedly to the Czech lands, but when it arrived, it came to stay. The Czech Surrealist movement was an outgrowth of the Poetism practiced by the avant-garde Devětsil group, two of whose founding members, Toyen and Jindřich Štyrský, moved to Paris in 1926 and formed close ties with the leader of the French Surrealist movement, André Breton. Another Devětsil member, Josef Šíma, had already been living in Paris since 1922.

The exhibition “Fragments of Dreams” at the relatively new Galerie Moderna brings together an extensive number of works on paper, prints, paintings, a smattering of collages, sculptural objects and photographs by Czech artists working in the Surrealist vein. This show follows on the heels of an exhibition devoted just to Toyen and Sima.”