This publication is only available in Dutch.

This richly illustrated exhibition catalogue appears on the occasion of the exhibition of the same name in Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (11 February – 28 May 2017).

Gek van surrealisme shows a large number of masterpieces in the field of surrealist art from four private collections: Roland Penrose, Edward James, Gabrielle Keiller and the couple Ulla and Heiner Pietzsch. In collaboration with the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh and the Hamburger Kunsthalle, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen juxtaposes the collections and provides an inspired, personal and unparalleled overview of surrealism with works by artists such as Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst, René Magritte and Joan Miro.

The catalogue is contained in a cassette with glimpses into the collections of the four collectors. The book itself is made up of four collectors' houses, each with its own atmosphere and character through the use of different types and sizes of paper. All exhibited works are depicted in the houses and are always accompanied by one or more introductory essays. The reader is, as it were, invited to the collectors' homes.

The Surrealists often turned their literary editions and catalogs into works of art in themselves, which stimulated not only the mind but also the senses through their special design. Following these famous predecessors, the exhibition catalogue, designed by Esther de Vries, has become a special object.

The catalogue was edited by curators Saskia van Kampen-Prein (Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen), Keith Hartley (Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art) and Annabelle Görgen (Hamburger Kunsthalle) and also contains contributions from Dawn Ades, Richard Calvocoressi, Désirée de Chair, Elizabeth Cowling, Hubertus Gassner and Anthony Penrose.