Bestiario surrealista

Desmond Morris draws on the legacy of the medieval bestiary – in which descriptions of animals were accompanied by their allegorical, moral or religious significance – and leads us into the realm of the surreal. Combining the expert eye of a scientist with the sensitivity of a painter, he delves into a mysterious realm populated by creatures that crawl, fly and hybridise: these are the eccentric reinterpretations of visionary artists such as René Magritte, Frida Kahlo, Dorothea Tanning or Remedios Varo, who, in portraying them, exorcised their own demons, created parallel worlds, evoked personal memories or conjured the spectre of war. After revealing the symbolism and anecdotes behind some of the most extravagant works of modern art, he allows them to shine in all their enigmatic splendour.
More than a mere parade of the bizarre – from Leonora Carrington’s hyena to Salvador Dalí’s elephants, from Max Ernst’s birds to Leonor Fini’s cats – Bestiario surrealista is a lively and witty celebration of one of the most revolutionary movements of the 20th century. A must-read for lovers of Surrealism, zoology and natural history.