BASEL.- In a world premiere, the Fondation Beyeler is showing a representative selection of surrealist masterpieces from the Hersaint Collection. The exhibition includes around 50 key works by artists such as Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst, René Magritte, Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso, Man Ray, Dorothea Tanning, Toyen as well as Balthus, Jean Dubuffet, Wifredo Lam and many others, reflecting on major themes of Surrealism such as the night, dreams, the unconscious, metamorphoses or the forest as a site of mystery. The paintings from the Hersaint Collection are presented in dialogue with important works from the Fondation Beyeler.
Uncover the secrets of Surrealism and Dada with essential reads on Max Ernst. Discover insightful biographies, critical essays, and stunning visual collections. Shop now and expand your art library.
Referencing the title of a major work by René Magritte from the Hersaint Collection, “The Key to Dreams” encapsulates the surrealist focus of the collection with its numerous references to the mysterious and uncanny world of dreams, nightmares and the unconscious. The Hersaint Collection was founded by Claude Hersaint (1904, São Paulo – 1993, Crans-Montana), one of the earliest and most important collectors of Surrealist art. Growing up in Brazil, he later moved to Paris, where he acquired his first painting by Max Ernst in 1921 at the age of 17. A life-long passion for art evolved, resulting in one of the most remarkable collections of surrealist painting. Today, the Hersaint Collection comprises around 150 works, including one of the most important private collections of works by Max Ernst. Throughout his life, Claude Hersaint was friends with many artists and supported them significantly. His enthusiasm and commitment to art extended to his wife Françoise Hersaint and his daughter Evangéline Hersaint.
Among the numerous masterpieces in the collection is Max Ernst’s impressive The Fireside Angel (The Triumph of Surrealism) from 1937, which has become an icon of Surrealism in its own right. Salvador Dalí’s enigmatic and mysterious painting The Lugubrious Game from 1929 epitomises the quintessence of his art with its focus on erotic and psychological taboos. Also on display is Balthus’ Passage du Commerce- Saint-André (1952–1954), the artist’s monumental masterpiece, which has been on permanent loan to the Fondation Beyeler for many years. Dorothea Tanning and Toyen, two key Surrealists, are also represented with characteristic works that have hardly ever been shown in public before.
Claude, Françoise and Evangéline Hersaint maintained a lasting friendship with Ernst and Hildy Beyeler. While the collection of the Fondation Beyeler and the Collection Hersaint exhibit both similarities and differences, they complement each other in an ideal way. In dialogue with the Collection Hersaint, the references to surrealist art in the Beyeler Collection are brought to light, becoming particularly evident in the encounter with paintings by Louise Bourgeois, Jean Dubuffet, Max Ernst, Alberto Giacometti, Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso and Henri Rousseau from the collection of the Fondation Beyeler.
Claude Hersaint was born in 1904 in São Paulo, where his family, originally from Alsace-Lorraine, had emigrated to in the mid-19th century. He grew up in the traditional milieu of the intellectual upper class and moved to Paris as a young man, where he attended “Sciences Po” and studied law. Claude Hersaint went on to work in banking, a profession he pursued for the rest of his life. In Paris, he became close friends with important surrealist artists such as Max Ernst, Victor Brauner and Óscar Domínguez, as well as with Balthus and Jean Dubuffet. Claude Hersaint was also friends with influential writers, intellectuals and collectors such as Jacques Lacan, Georges Bataille, Jean Paulhan and Marie-Laure de Noailles. In 1938, he married his first wife Hélène Anavi, a flamboyant personality of her time. Due to the Second World War and persecution by the Nazis, Claude Hersaint and Hélène Anavi fled Paris at the beginning of 1942. After first leaving for Rio de Janeiro, they immigrated to New York. There they became friends with Robert Oppenheimer, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Leo Castelli and Pierre Matisse as well as Man Ray, Dorothea Tanning and numerous artists who had gone into exile during the war.
After the Second World War, Claude Hersaint returned to Paris, where he met his second wife, Françoise Moutier. Claude Hersaint and Françoise Hersaint then lived in Montreux and Paris until they finally settled in Crans-Montana in the Valais. After her husband’s death, Françoise Hersaint was heavily committed to the collection. Today, their daughter Evangéline Hersaint carries on the Hersaint Collection and is making it accessible to the general public for the first time with this exhibition.
A richly illustrated catalogue in German and French, edited by Raphaël Bouvier for the Fondation Beyeler and designed by Uwe Koch and Silke Fahnert, is published by Hatje Cantz Verlag, Berlin, to accompany the exhibition. It comprises 152 pages and contains an introductory foreword and an in-depth conversation with the collector Evangéline Hersaint.
Artdaily participates in the Amazon Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn commissions by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. When you purchase through our links, we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. These commissions help us continue curating and sharing the art world’s latest news, stories, and resources with our readers.
