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Exhibition

A Pleasant Madness: Surrealism at the Julien Levy Gallery

Opening October 11, 2025

In 1932, only months after opening his eponymous gallery, Julien Levy presented the first exhibition of Surrealist art ever held in New York. Over the course of nearly two decades, this pathbreaking dealer’s fervent promotion of Surrealism made him a major figure in the history of that movement in the United States.

This installation offers a glimpse into Surrealism at the Levy gallery by showcasing works from the museum’s permanent collection made by members of Levy’s extraordinary roster of artists, including Joseph Cornell, Max Ernst, Arshile Gorky, and Dorothea Tanning. The display also includes photographs from a trove of more than two thousand from Levy’s personal collection that came to the museum as a gift in 2001. Also on display are examples of gallery publications and ephemera drawn from the Levy gallery records, which are held in the museum’s Library and Archives.

A Pleasant Madness accompanies the exhibition Dreamworld: Surrealism at 100, on view in the Dorrance galleries from November 8, 2025 to February 16, 2026.

Gallery 269

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Image Gallery

Get a sneak peek at works in this exhibition.

Sponsors

A Pleasant Madness: Surrealism at the Julien Levy Gallery is organized in conjunction with Dreamworld: Surrealism at 100.

Dreamworld: Surrealism at 100 is made possible by the Annenberg Foundation Fund for Major Exhibitions, the Robert Montgomery Scott Endowment for Exhibitions, the Kathleen C. and John J. F. Sherrerd Fund for Exhibitions, the Lois G. and Julian A. Brodsky Installation and Exhibition Fund, the Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz Fund for Exhibitions, The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation, Audrey Escoll, Mr. and Mrs. Orlando C. Esposito, James and Susan Pagliaro, Marsha and Jeffrey E. Perelman, Barbara A. Podell and Mark G. Singer, and Andrew S. Teufel.


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All exhibitions at the PMA are underwritten by the Annual Exhibition Fund. Generous support is provided by Andrea Baldeck, M.D.; Julia and David Fleischner; Mrs. Henry F. Harris; Robert Hayes; and Mark W. Strong and Dana Strong.

Curators

Matthew Affron, The Muriel and Philip Berman Curator of Modern Art

Julia Vázquez, Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow

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