The interwar years

Between two world wars: dreams, order, critique and repression under the dictatorships.

Surrealism, founded by André Breton in 1924, explored the unconscious. Dalí, Magritte, Ernst and Miró painted dreams and enigmas. At the same time, De Stijl and the Bauhaus sought a rational, geometric order for art, architecture and design.

In Germany, Otto Dix and George Grosz depicted the chaos of the postwar years with merciless realism, while Käthe Kollwitz gave a voice to the poor. In Mexico, Rivera painted murals and Frida Kahlo made her self-portraits.

The dictatorships cracked down on modern art. The Nazis branded it “degenerate,” and many artists fled to the United States. Picasso’s Guernica of 1937 became a symbol of protest against war.