Surrealism is not a style – but a state of mind. It aims to subvert reality. To find the uncanny in the everyday. To tap into our unconscious desires and bring dreams to life. And for many artists around the world, it has been a way to challenge authority and imagine a new world.
Previous stories of surrealism have focused on Paris in the 1920s. Based on extensive research, this exhibition will reach across the world and over 50 years. It will show how artists around the world have been inspired and united by surrealism – from centres as diverse as Buenos Aires, Cairo, Lisbon, Mexico City, Prague, Seoul, and Tokyo.
Surrealism Beyond Borders is presented in the Eyal Ofer Galleries.
Research supported by Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational in partnership with Hyundai Motor.
Exhibition organised by Tate Modern and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Toshiko Okanoue The Call 1953 Wilson Centre for Photography © Toshiko Okanoue, Courtesy of The Third Gallery Aya
Ramses Younan Untitled 1939 Sheikh Hassan M. A. Al-Thani © Estate of Ramses Younan
Helen Lundeberg Plant and Animal Analogies 1933–34 The Buck Collection at the UCI Institute and Museum for California Art (California, US)
Salvador Dalí
Lobster Telephone (1938)
Tate
© Salvador Dali, Gala-Salvador Dali Foundation/DACS, London 2026
Kaveh Golestan Untitled, from Az Div o Dad series © Kaveh Golestan Estate, Courtesy Archaeology of the Final Decade
See the exhibition then enjoy a seasonal lunch menu in the Kitchen and Bar afterwards.
Daily at 12.00 and 12.30
- £48 for exhibition entry and two course set menu
- £47 for exhibition entry and two course set menu for Concessions (60+, Disabled, Job Seeker, Student)
Our exhibition guide explores the exhibition room by room.
Need a bigger font size of the exhibition guide? Download the large print version [PDF 111MB]
All Tate Modern entrances are step-free. You can enter via the Turbine Hall and into the Natalie Bell Building on Holland Street, or into the Blavatnik Building on Sumner street.
The exhibition is on Level 3 of the Natalie Bell building. There are lifts to every floor of the Blavatnik and Nathalie Bell buildings. Alternatively you can take the stairs.
- Fully accessible toilets are located on every floor on the concourses.
- A quiet room is available to use in the Natalie Bell Building on Level 4.
- Ear defenders can be borrowed from the Ticket desks.
To help plan your visit to Tate Modern, have a look at our visual story. It includes photographs and information about what you can expect from a visit to the gallery.
For more information before your visit:
- Email hello@tate.org.uk
- Call +44 (0)20 7887 8888 – option 1 (daily 09.45–18.00)
