Demonstratie van drie heren met gewei en schilderij tijdens de opening van de tentoonstelling in Galerie Robert in Amsterdam 1938 Exposition Internationale du Surrealisme 1938

This is a photograph by Lilly Samuel, taken in Amsterdam in 1938, it captures the opening of the International Surrealist Exhibition. It's a flurry of found objects, a tableau of oddness, which lets the viewer know they are about to see something beyond ordinary reality. There's a mannequin, a globe, and then, smack in the center, men with antlers. It's all so earnest, like they’re really trying to *be* surreal, and that makes it even more charming. The black and white tones lend a gravity, as if to say, ‘we’re serious about being silly.’ Think about the texture of the photograph itself - the way light bounces off each surface. Like a painting, you can see the layers building, each object placed with a purpose, each shadow telling a story. It reminds me a bit of Hannah Höch’s collages, that same playful rearranging of the world. It's an image that invites you to play along.