SOURCE: Sotheby’s
Embrace surrealism’s dreamlike aesthetic in your home with unconventional mixes of color, proportion and inspiration, says Jessica Klingelfuss
“Surrealism is based on the belief in the omnipotence of dreams, in the undirected play of thought,” declared French writer and poet André Breton in the “Surrealist Manifesto,” first issued in October 1924. The artists, writers and philosophers involved in the movement championed the poetic and the mysterious—a liberation of imaginations and inner worlds expressed through literature, art, objects and interiors. Now, the centenary of the seminal publication has brought the dreamlike aesthetics of the movement back into sharp relief through a host of special exhibitions and events being staged internationally, including a vast retrospective at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, open until 13 January 2025.
“Think of surrealist interior design as like creating a stage set within your own home. It’s intended to have a very strong impact on your imaginative and creative life,” says Kathryn Johnson, head of exhibitions at British art museum RWA and curator of the Design Museum’s 2022 exhibition “Objects of Desire: Surrealism and Design 1924 – Today.” “It’s an aesthetic characterized by unlikely juxtapositions, visual discontinuities and surprises around every corner. And it often seems to me that many surrealist designs—think of Salvador Dalí’s “Mae West Lips Sofa”—are only completed in use. They invite you to sit on them, and by doing so, you complete the piece.”
A surrealist interior should evoke a sense of fantasy and curiosity, and color is a useful tool in establishing that ambiance. Opt for vivid, unnatural hues or unusual combinations: deep purples, neon greens and metallics, for example, can create a dreamlike atmosphere. Meadow Wood, an elegant family home on a secluded reach of Massachusetts’ Green River, features walls painted in unexpected colors and fantastically patterned wallpaper to create a backdrop that feels otherworldly.
Elsewhere at Niederhurst—a Gilded Age-era estate perched above the Hudson River in Snedens Landing, New York—surrealist elements are subtly threaded throughout the eclectic residence. The property has been thoughtfully restored and reimagined by its current owner Sara Story, a Manhattan-based interior designer with a penchant for “sophisticated, timeless spaces with an air of whimsy.” The dining room is an immersive artwork in itself, with a bold black-and-white mural by Austrian artist Otto Zitko envisioned especially for the space.
The surrealists placed emphasis on creating new narratives through unusual combinations of materials and objects. In the 1920s and 1930s they began making “assemblages,” such as Meret Oppenheim’s fur-covered bracelet, or Dalí’s “Lobster Telephone.” Similarly, juxtaposing the functional with the fantastical creates a sense of disorientation and surprise in a space. For instance, a traditional armchair might be placed next to a modern sculpture or a classical chandelier paired with avant-garde furniture. “It’s no accident that the early surrealist’s ideal of beauty was expressed as a meeting of unexpected objects, in an unexpected place,” says Johnson.
The essence of the movement remains unchanged today. “Surrealism is not just an aesthetic—it is an attitude that transcends the time period in which it was born,” says Johnson. “By thinking differently, you can make things differently, and change the material world around you. Surrealism created a lookbook of bold and swaggering imagery that still appeals..” Blending these elements—unconventional materials, dreamlike colors, enhanced scale and proportions as well as surprising juxtapositions—can create a surrealist interior that makes the ordinary extraordinary.