The International Surrealist Exhibition was held from 11 June to 4 July 1936 at the New Burlington Galleries in London, England.
The exhibition was organised by:
- Hugh Sykes Davies
- David Gascoyne
- Humphrey Jennings
- Rupert Lee
- Diana Brinton Lee
- Henry Moore
- Paul Nash
- Roland Penrose
- Herbert Read
- E. L. T. Mesens
The French organising committee were
- André Breton
- Paul Éluard
- Georges Hugnet
- Man Ray
The exhibition was opened in the presence of about two thousand people by André Breton. The average attendance for the whole of the Exhibition was about a thousand people per day.
During the course of the Exhibition, the following lectures were delivered to large audiences:
- June 16 — André Breton — Limites non Frontières du Surréalisme.
- June 19 — Herbert Read — Art and the Unconscious.
- June 24 — Paul Éluard — La Poésie Surréaliste.
- June 26 — Hugh Sykes Davies — Biology and Surrealism.
- July 1 — Salvador Dalí — Fantomes paranoiaques authentiques.
Dali's lecture was delivered whilst wearing a deep-sea diving suit. Nearly suffocating during the presentation, Dali had to be rescued by the young poet David Gascoyne, who arrived with a spanner to release him from the diving helmet.
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