Óscar Domínguez o el Surrealismo híbrido

As part of APERTURA Madrid Gallery Weekend 2026, Galería Guillermo de Osma presents a major exhibition dedicated to Óscar Domínguez (1906–1957), offering a fresh perspective on one of the most internationally acclaimed 20th-century Spanish artists About As part of APERTURA Madrid Gallery Weekend 2026, Galería Guillermo de Osma presents a major exhibition dedicated to Óscar Domínguez (1906–1957), offering a fresh perspective on one of the most internationally acclaimed 20th-century Spanish artists and a key figure of Surrealism. The show brings together around thirty works that revisit Domínguez’s unique and original output. Recognized by André Breton as one of the most original voices of the Surrealist movement, Domínguez shared a deep friendship with both Breton and Paul Éluard, as evidenced by the writings both dedicated to him. A loyal friend, when Éluard left Surrealism following a clash of personalities with Breton, Domínguez unhesitatingly followed suit. In any case, his connection to the group placed his work and its impact in a truly prominent position. Domínguez developed a deeply personal visual language in which automatism, technical experimentation, continuous metamorphosis, and an iconographic universe populated by hybrid figures, transforming objects, and extraordinary poetic imagination harmoniously converge. His reinvention of Decalcomania, later adopted by many other artists, stands as one of his most significant contributions to the Surrealist movement. The exhibition features an outstanding selection of these works—a technique in which Domínguez excelled by partly surrendering the composition to chance. Among them are two works of particular historical relevance: Lyon-Bicyclette . The other versions, all distinct, are held in the collections of MoMA, the Centre Pompidou, and the Museo Reina Sofía. Domínguez constantly reinvented himself without being pigeonholed into a single style, exploring widely diverse registers. Two major works from 1943 stand out in the exhibition: the object painting Camera Obscura and Les Cocottes en papier . His studio series ( Ateliers ) highlights his interest in the creative process itself, treating the studio as the epitome of the artist's place of creation. His relentless search made him an unpredictable artist, as clearly seen in the formal subversion of Frutero Come Frutas (1949), a work that once belonged to André Breton. As Breton noted in Trajectoire du Rêve (1937), painting was Domínguez's primary source of solace. One of the defining aspects of this exhibition is the presence of the animal world in Domínguez’s work. Far from being a mere decorative motif, animals appear as key protagonists in a symbolic universe. Fish, birds, insects, horses, bulls, crabs, cats... fantastic creatures participating in an imagery where the boundaries between the natural, human, and mineral realms dissolve, becoming metaphors for desire, violence, or the unconscious. Clear evidence of this can be seen in the two self-portraits depicting him as a caged rhinoceros or an alligator—the nickname given to him by his Surrealist friends. Finally, the exhibition route culminates in three works from his final period, where the artist returns to Decalcomania to use it experimentally, bordering on abstraction. The painting Le Clown closes the show; considered his final artwork, it was lost to the public since it was last exhibited in 1957 and has been recovered for this exhibition, standing as a self-portrait that highlights his ironic view of himself. The artist ended his own life on December 31, 1957. The bilingual Spanish-French catalogue published on the occasion of the exhibition includes an essay titled Óscar Domínguez Fabulario by Isidro Hernández, Chief Curator of the TEA collection, who also contributes a commentary on Le Clown . It also features transcriptions of four historical texts by the Surrealists André Breton, Paul Éluard, Georges Hugnet, and Marcel Jean. Read more Toggle Painting