The Surrealist Menagerie

Authored by renowned zoologist Desmond Morris—the last surviving member of the surrealist movement—The Surrealist Menagerie explores the many ways that animals have been represented in surrealist art. Creature by creature, Morris plots an uncanny and entertaining expedition through the animal kingdom as reinterpreted by the likes of Max Ernst, René Magritte, Dorothea Tanning, and Remedios Varo. Combining the trained eye of a scientist and a unique insider’s perspective, Morris provides extraordinary insights into the significance and symbolism of specific life-forms in some of the movement’s most imaginative works.

From Leonora Carrington’s hyenas to Salvador Dalí‘s chimeras, Leonor Fini’s cats to Félix Labisse’s mollusks, nonhuman creatures became enduring points of fascination for many surrealist artists. These recurring motifs were used to explore ideas of mutability, psychology, the marvelous, the natural, and the uncanny.

More than a bestiary of the bizarre, The Surrealist Menagerie is a celebration of one of modern art’s most revolutionary movements—a must-read for lovers of surrealism, zoology, and the beautiful strangeness of the natural world.