A Brief Guide to Egyptian Surrealism | Tate

In 1938, a group of 37 artists, writers and thinkers in Cairo signed a manifesto titled ‘Long Live Degenerate Art’. This marked the start of the group known as ‘Art and Liberty’, and the birth of a distinctly Egyptian style of Surrealism.

Get to know some of the key Egyptian Surrealists in this short animated film, including Mayo, Amy Nimr, Ramses Younan, and their connection to an international network of Surrealists in the first half of the twentieth century.

[Ysckemia]

i can't believe i spent FIVE YEARS in art school, and *not even once*, the professor of history of art told us about surrealism across the world. it took me just a hint of curiosity to discover it through that video.

[uhos]

Refreshing to see surrealism from a different perspective.

[minch]

I've never been the biggest surrealist guy but this Egyptian style looks absolutely incredible

[retf]

As an Egyptian, this is the first time I have heard about the early development of this movement, I knew about surrealism and surrealist artists in Egypt, but other than that I didn't know anything, thanks for the insight

[emmarina]

And the style still exists to this day! A huge amount of students at my college use this style religiously, and it's extremely famous and prominent in art groups. And many other artists and professors also use it. It's still being actively taught and encouraged

[ivanklymenko]

Thank you for the video, the retrospective and the history of Egyptian surrealism. Very informative and interesting. Best regards from Prague

[txcn]

Incredible, this reminded me of the first time I really encountered the Greek Surrealist writers and was equally awed. Well done, the work that went into this shows amazingly and it is a valuable contribution to the study of Surrealism beyond Europe alone.

[GoshdarnCat]

Great little introduction! Would love to see more of the movement world wide!

[MoonlitDesperado]

Thanks for sharing ... this felt like an introduction to something deeply elaborate.

[mostafaz]

As an Egyptian I never knew about this… like… at all! Thank you for shedding light on this topic!

[myrandahee]

The visual expression of this video is so cool!

[z-beeblebrox]

What an interesting subject! I've always been fascinated by surrealism, but it's such a broad topic, so it's always nice to see different pockets of the movement highlighted
Also Ramses Younan is just an awesome name

[benyoung]

An English translation of Aime Azar's book Modern Painting in Egypt is about to come out from Editions Norma in Paris. It's amazing.

[thomasbell]

I'm ashamed to admit I knew nothing of Egyptian Surrealism before this wonderful little film. I have some searching to do.
I'm also happy to see that Mexico was mentioned, where two of my favorite Surrealists -- Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo -- lived and worked.

[ctoepper]

Amazing very impressed by the delivery in under 5 mins, feel like I learned something

[zaugitude]

Wow! I had no idea that this was even a thing and I am a big fan of European surrealism.
Thanks!

[jillyb]

There's something I knew nothing about! Really interesting🤔 Every day's a school day😊

[fynntasticmovienight]

Very interesting video. So cool to see how art is used differently around the world to express different sentiments, even within the same genre there are so many interpretations for many different situations.

[aubreyb]

Super interesting and engaging content, subscribed 💛

[danbowman]

Wow, fantastic! I had never heard of this Egyptian movement. New names to look up and research, thank you!