About the Exhibition

Alexander Calder is a beloved modernist whose career has been little explored in relation to the artists and concepts that inspired his work.

The Surreal Calder provides fascinating context for a more nuanced understanding of Calder's genius. Calder's early artworks were nurtured by many sources: Marcel Duchamp, who suggested the name "mobile" for the kinetic art form that Calder so famously employed; Piet Mondrian, who introduced Calder to pure abstraction; and Joan Miró, who introduced Calder to Surrealism.

The Surreal Calder consists of seventy works, including thirteen paintings and objects by artists other than Calder, among them Miró, Max Ernst, and René Magritte. Featured works vibrantly display Calder's wit through his caricatures, linear flights of fancy, "marvelous" creations of fantastic creatures, poetic constructions using surprising materials, biomorphic forms, and celestial constellations.

A fully illustrated catalogue will accompany the exhibition.

Generous support for this local presentation is provided by Target. Target logo
Spider

Alexander Calder, Spider

The Surreal Calder is organized by The Menil Collection, Houston, Texas, and is generously supported in part by The Eleanor and Frank Freed Foundation, Anita and Mike Stude, An Anonymous Donor in Honor of Elsian Cozens, Mary and Roy Cullen, and Mrs. Nancy C. Allen, with additional support ftom The Cullen Foundation, Fayez Sarofim & Co., George and Josephine Hamman Foundation, Houston Endowment, Inc., the Wortham Foundation, and the City of Houston.