Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme

In January 1938, the Galerie Beaux-Arts at 140 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré hosted a project that permanently altered how art is displayed. Organized by André Breton and Paul Éluard with Marcel Duchamp acting as the lead designer, the Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme broke away from the tradition of hanging paintings on blank walls. Instead, the organizers transformed the gallery into an all-encompassing, immersive environment. They intended for the space itself to function as a work of art, forcing visitors to experience the fantastic imagination of the surrealist movement through a multisensory, disorienting journey.