The Dalí’s special exhibit, The Subversive Eye: Surrealist and Experimental Photography from the David Raymond Collection, explores photography’s vital role as a Surrealist medium. For Surrealists and the experimental photographers they inspired, the camera became more than just a tool—it was a way to unlock visual poetry and see the world through an entirely new lens. Surrealism encouraged the discovery of unexpected and dreamlike moments, urging artists to find the “surreal” in everyday life.

In the spirit of surrealism, we invite you to participate in our contest by capturing the “surprisingly surreal.” Surrealism exists all around us, and we encourage you to find moments that feel dreamlike or otherworldly—an interesting twist of light, a new perspective, an unexpected pairing and beyond—and share them with us.

Debuting in relation to the Surrealist movement’s (Paris,1920s) literary production, photography came to define a range of avant-garde practices worldwide. With a dizzying array of tactics, including multiple exposure, unusual perspectives, cropping, photocollage and solarization, Surrealists rapidly made the medium their own, and their procedures radiated throughout Western and Eastern Europe, the Americas and Japan. Notable artists include Eileen Agar, Hans Bellmer, Brassaï, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Robert Capa, Georges Hugnet, Clarence John Laughlin, Dora Maar, Lee Miller, Lucia Moholy, Osamu Shiihara, Man Ray and Wols.

The exhibition explores themes of transformation, urban mysteries, the visible woman, the enigma of the ordinary, automatic sculptures and poetic objects—key elements that define surrealist experimental photography. For The Dalí’s Surprisingly Surreal Photography Contest, we invite you to push the boundaries of the expected and discover the surreal in your own surroundings.

For more information, visit The Dalí Museum