ST. PETERSBURG, FLA.- Paris, a timeless city both intellectual and sensuous, was vibrating with the spirit of liberation in 1929. Among those pulsing with the energy and excitement of the era were groundbreaking artists, galvanized to forge vital new creative paths with cultural and political meaning. Midnight in Paris: Surrealism at the Crossroads, 1929, profiles the work, friendship and clashes of more than 20 avant-garde artists of the era, from the painters Salvador Dalí and René Magritte, to sculptors Hans Arp and Alexander Calder, to filmmakers Germaine Dulac and Luis Buñuel. Man Ray, the great American artist, and perhaps the first paparazzo, made splendid photo portraits of these and other Surrealists, turning them into international celebrities.

“The year 1929 in Paris was one of those rare moments when the artists of the time knew they were reshaping the world,” said Dr. Hank Hine, executive director of The Dalí. “Are we in such a time again? The Dalí Museum invites you to consider this, and to discover the provocative conversations, dreams and friendships among a deeply experimental and influential group of artists who called Paris their creative home.”

Designed as an inspiring stroll through the streets of Paris, the exhibition evokes concepts of Dream, Desire, Freedom, Love and Revolution, asking visitors to consider some of the thought-provoking questions at the heart of the Surrealist enterprise: Is art obsolete? Are dreams or reality more important to portray? Would painting survive the new experiments with photography, film and collage?

Among the highlights of Midnight in Paris are the vivid films of four surrealists, Germaine Dulac, Luis Bunuel, Man Ray and Gerhard Richter. The Museum has installed a period theater in the galleries to project its new film shot in St. Petersburg imagining an emotional conversation between Gala Dalí, Dalí’s wife, and André Breton, Surrealism’s founder, as they vie for control of the movement.

Organized by The Dalí Museum and the Centre Pompidou, the exhibition includes approximately 65 works in a variety of media drawn largely from the collection of the Musée national d’art moderne in Paris. The exhibition is curated by Dr. William Jeffett, chief curator of special exhibitions at The Dalí Museum, and Didier Ottinger, deputy director of the Musée national d’art moderne at the Centre Pompidou with the collaboration of Marie Sarré.

Midnight in Paris: Surrealism at the Crossroads, 1929, will be on view Nov. 23, 2019, through April 9, 2020, at The Dalí Museum, the exhibition’s exclusive North American venue.