The Subterranean Sky

It has been exactly one hundred years since André Breton published his first Surrealist Manifesto, sparking a movement that changed the way we see the world. To celebrate this centenary, we invite you to step into “The Subterranean Sky,” an immersive look at Moderna Museet’s world-renowned Surrealist collection. Come discover the bold ideas that fueled this revolution and see how they continue to influence art and culture today.

“The Subterranean Sky” isn’t just a look back at history; it is a journey through an ever-evolving story.

The exhibition brings together nearly 200 works from our own collection along with 30 special loans from archives and libraries, with a particular focus on how Surrealism transformed film, literature, and the performing arts.

Surrealism was never just about a specific “look”—it was a revolutionary way of thinking. Its goal was to break free from the constraints of logic and social expectations. By diving into the subconscious, these artists hoped to find a better, more authentic reality hidden just beneath the surface of everyday life.

You will meet the Swedish pioneers who brought these radical ideas home from Paris in the 1920s, such as Gösta Adrian-Nilsson, Eric Grate, Erik Olson, and Anna Riwkin.

The journey continues with later visionaries like Leonora Carrington, Maya Deren, Jan Håfström, Graciela Iturbide, Robert Rauschenberg, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and Dorothea Tanning, reaching all the way to the conceptual art and Fluxus movement of the 1960s.