The Surrealist Book

October 4, 2026 – January 23, 2027

The Museum of Modern Art

The Museum of Modern Art will present The Surrealist Book, an exhibition showcasing the propulsive impact of artists’ books within the Surrealist movement. For the artists and writers associated with Surrealism, the book was an ideal vehicle for subversive experimentation and the promotion of their revolutionary tenets. Working collaboratively to unlock the unconscious, they transformed the bound volume into a provocative new art form, an enchanted portal to the unexpected, the irrational, or what they called the “marvelous.” On view at MoMA from October 4, 2026, through January 23, 2027, The Surrealist Book features a selection of rare volumes produced by Surrealism’s most imaginative artists and writers, including André Breton, Claude Cahun, Salvador Dalí, Paul Éluard, Max Ernst, and Toyen.

The Surrealist Book is organized by Jodi Hauptman, The Robert Lehman Foundation Chief Curator of Drawings and Prints, and Starr Figura, Curator, with Kolleen Ku, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Drawings and Prints.

The exhibition is made possible by the Eyal and Marilyn Ofer Family Foundation, in honor of Sam Zell.

Additional funding is provided by the Robert Lehman Foundation.

Support for the exhibition is provided by the Annual Exhibition Fund. Leadership contributions to the Annual Exhibition Fund, in support of the Museum’s collection and collection exhibitions, are generously provided by Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III, the Eyal and Marilyn Ofer Family Foundation, the Noel and Harriette Levine Endowment, Jerry Speyer and Katherine Farley, Alice and Tom Tisch, the Marella and Giovanni Agnelli Fund for Exhibitions, Eva and Glenn Dubin, Mimi Haas, the William Randolph Hearst Endowment Fund for Photography, The David Rockefeller Council, the Kate W. Cassidy Foundation, The Contemporary Arts Council of The Museum of Modern Art, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz, Kenneth C. Griffin, The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art, Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis, and Ronald S. and Jo Carole Lauder. Major funding is provided by The Sundheim Family Foundation.

Press Kit

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Images

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Giorgio de Chirico, artist. Paul Éluard, author. Georges Hugnet and Louis Christy, binders. Défense de savoir (Prohibition of Knowing). Published 1928; rebound 1936. Book with one collotype reproduction (frontispiece); letterpress text. Bespoke rebinding by Hugnet and Christy for Hugnet, with leather, blind tooling, blind stamping, and paint, front and back covers each holding a sheet of shattered lead glass between two additional sheets of lead glass; metallic-paper endpapers and decalcomania (gouache transfer) endpapers. Pages (dimensions vary), largest: 10 1/2 × 8 1/8 in. (26.6 × 20.7 cm). Publisher: Éditions Surréalistes, Paris. Edition: no. 14 of 100. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Helen and Sam Zell

Photo by Martin Parsekian
© 2026 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SIAE, Rome; © 2026 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © 2026 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

André Breton, author. Paul Bonet, binder. Manifeste du surréalisme; Poisson soluble (Surrealist Manifesto; Soluble Fish). Published 1924; additional documents c. 1920–29; rebound 1931. Book with letterpress text, annotated by Breton. Rebound with additional documents, folded to fit, and bespoke nickel silver binding by Bonet for René Gaffé. Pages (dimensions vary, largest unfolded): 13 7/8 × 9 13/16 in. (35.2 × 25 cm). Publisher: Éditions du Sagittaire, Paris. Edition: no. 1 of 19. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Helen and Sam Zell

Photo by Ben Blackwell
© 2026 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

Salvador Dalí, artist. André Breton, author. Paul Éluard, author. Paul Bonet, binder. L’immaculée conception (The Immaculate Conception). Published 1930; additional documents c. 1935; rebound 1942. Book with one gravure and etching (frontispiece); letterpress text; line-block vignette by Dalí on title page and on publisher’s original paper cover. Bespoke black leather rebinding by Bonet for Éluard, front and back covers each with a gelatin silver print, colored leather onlays, and foil stamping. Rebound with an original pencil drawing by Dalí, manuscript materials by Paul and Nusch Éluard, Breton, and Dalí, and other documents. Pages (dimensions vary): from 9 1/16 × 7 1/16 in. (23 × 18 cm) to 9 13/16 × 8 ¼ in. (25 × 21 cm). Publisher: Éditions Surréalistes/Librairie José Corti, Paris. Edition: Éluard’s author’s copy, no. 6 of 116 and one of 13 on Japon blanc nacré paper (plus 2,000 without the gravure). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Helen and Sam Zell

Photo by Martin Parsekian
© 2026 Salvador Dalí, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Artists Rights Society; © 2026 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris; © 2026 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Salvador Dalí, artist (frontispiece). Georges Hugnet, author and binder. Onan. Published 1934; rebound 1936. Book with one gravure, aquatint, and drypoint by Dalí (frontispiece); letterpress text. Bespoke rebinding by Hugnet for himself, with leather, blind tooling, and foil stamping, front cover with dye-colored sand between two sheets of lead glass with rayon-covered board elements on top, back cover with dried seahorse between two sheets of lead glass; printed-paper endpapers, front endpaper with collage by Hugnet in cut-and-pasted printed paper and pencil. Pages (approx.): 11 × 9 in. (27.9 × 22.9 cm). Publisher: Éditions Surréalistes, Paris. Edition: author’s copy, unnumbered (total edition 77, plus 200 without the gravure). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Helen and Sam Zell

Photo by Martin Parsekian
© 2026 Salvador Dalí, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Artists Rights Society; © 2026 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

Claude Cahun, artist and author. Marcel Moore, artist. Aveux non avenus (Canceled Confessions). Published 1930. Book with eleven gravure reproductions of photomontages; letterpress text. Pages: 8 1/4 × 6 5/16 in. (21 × 16 cm). Publisher: Éditions du Carrefour, Paris. Edition: 500. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Helen and Sam Zell

Photo by Ben Blackwell

Toyen, artist. Jindřich Heisler, author. Z kasemat spánku: Realisované básně (From the Strongholds of Sleep: Realized Poems). Published 1940. Book with eight gelatin silver prints, including title page (staged environments by Toyen and Heisler, photographed by Miro Bernat and Viktor Radnický), each mounted on metallic paper; printed text. Pages: 6 1/8 × 5 1/16 in. (15.5 × 12.9 cm). Publisher: Edice Surrealismu, Prague. Edition: no. 2 of 17. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Helen and Sam Zell

Unica Zürn, artist and author. Orakel und Spektakel, IV. Buch: Anagramme und Zeichnungen (Oracle and Spectacle, Book IV: Anagrams and Drawings). 1960. Book with ink, colored ink, pencil, torn-and-pasted paper, dried plant material, feathers, envelopes, playing card, embroidery-thread winder, and thread; pamphlet binding with red paper wrapper over paper cover with ink on torn- and cut-and-pasted papers. Pages: 12 13/16 × 9 13/16 in. (32.5 × 25 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Helen and Sam Zell

Ray Johnson, artist and author. Th Thee for and Lai Book. c. 1955. Book with cut-and-pasted printed, colored, and metallic paper, synthetic leather, and handwritten text in ink and pencil on irregularly shaped paper leaves, some with cutout holes and foldout flaps; cover with cut-and-pasted printed, colored, and metallic paper on paper over boards. Pages (approx., irreg.): 7 5/16 × 5 13/16 in. (18.5 × 14.8 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Helen and Sam Zell

Photo by Ben Blackwell