“Surrealisms. Graphic Work of the BBVA Collection”, at the Palacio de San Nicolás, Bilbao

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Exhibition organized in conjunction with the Museum of Fine Arts of Valencia.
Free admision
Dates: 11 July – 22 September 2024
Place: Palacio de San Nicolás. Plaza de San Nicolás, 4. 48005 Bilbao
Opening hours: Monday to Sunday 11:00-19:00 (Closed on 25th and 31st July, 15th and 23th August)
Guided tours free-of-charge, managed by Sedena, Wednesdays at 5.30 pm and Saturdays at 12 noon. Information and booking in advance: exposiciones@sedena.es / 610 38 24 47 (Mon-Fri, 9 am – 2 pm)
Groups with independent guide: booking required
Wheelchair access through Fueros Street


After its presentation in Valencia, BBVA presents in Bilbao the exhibition “Surrealisms. Graphic Work of the BBVA Collection” as part of BBVA’s ongoing cultural programme and its commitment to bring its artistic heritage to the wider public.

As this year marks the centenary of the first Surrealist Manifesto, we are taking the opportunity to present this show comprising a group of more than 50 works by artists who have explored dreams and the subconscious, creating their own individual worldview through highly personal imagery.  Works whose weightless forms, disfigured or biomorphic, invite us to dream and imagine abysmal depths, subterranean zones, fantastic cosmogonies peopled by strange and mysterious beings, and symbolic worlds generated by the individual experience of each artist. In short, this is a tour of the strange and surprising world of the subconscious, where real and unreal are interchangeable categories.

Worth underscoring among the works on exhibit is the set of prints by Salvador Dalí from his series “La conquête du cosmos”, the exceptional “Serie Mallorca” by Joan Miró, or the oil on canvas “La lumière de l‘ombre (The Light of the Shadow)” by Yves Tanguy, one of the greatest exponents of international Surrealism.

Selected artworks

- Yves Tanguy, "La lumière de l‘ombre (La luz de la sombra)", 1939 -
- Benjamín Palencia, "Bodegón", 1930 -
- Salvador Dalí, "Le Sang du yin et du yang", 1974 -
- Salvador Dalí, "Vision planétaire et scatologique", 1974 -
- Salvador Dalí, "Le Cercle viscéral du cosmos", 1974 -
- Salvador Dalí, "Girafe saturnienne", 1974 -
- Salvador Dalí, "Infra-terrestres adorés par Dalí à 5 ans car il se croyait insecte" 1974 -
- Salvador Dalí, "Philosophe écrasé par le cosmos", 1974 -
- Salvador Dalí, "L’Unicorne laser désintègre les cornes de rhinocéros cosmiques" 1974 -
- Salvador Dalí, "Dalí martien muni d´un double microscope holo-électronique" 1974 -
- Joan Miró, "Serie Mallorca", 1973 -
- Joan Miró, "Serie Mallorca", 1973 -
- Joan Miró, "Serie Mallorca", 1973 -
- Joan Miró, "Serie Mallorca", 1973 -
- Joan Miró, "Serie Mallorca", 1973 -
- Joan Miró, "Serie Mallorca", 1973 -
- Joan Miró, "Serie Mallorca", 1973 -
- Joan Miró, "Serie Mallorca", 1973 -
- Joan Ponç, "Untitled", 1948 -
- Joan Ponç, "Barrachú", 1950 -
- Óscar Domínguez "Pájaros mecánicos". 1952 -
- Maruja Mallo "Labios y atletas", h. 1950 -