The Surrealist Menagerie

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Why the Surrealists loved animals? Hyenas, chimeras, cats and molluscs do not appear in Surrealist art by chance. They were subjects the artists kept returning to, because through them they could explore new ideas about psychology, transformation and the marvellous. The Surrealist Menagerie: Strange Beasts & Fantastic Visions traces how animals shaped the Surrealist imagination.

The guide is Desmond Morris, a zoologist and also a Surrealist painter who knew the movement from the inside. He proceeds creature by creature, from the hyenas of Leonora Carrington through the chimeras of Salvador Dalí and the cats of Leonor Fini to the molluscs of Félix Labisse. He combines a scientist's trained eye with his own insider's experience, and explains the symbolism behind some of the wildest works of modern art.

This is not just a bestiary of the bizarre. The book is a lively and witty account of one of the most revolutionary movements of the 20th century. It is generously complemented by 168 illustrations, which let it be read as a picture book as well. It is written for lovers of Surrealism, zoology and natural history, and is all the more valuable as the last book by its author.

Desmond Morris (1928–2026) was a renowned zoologist and the last member of the Surrealist movement. After earning his doctorate at Oxford, he worked for Granada Television and the BBC's natural history unit, presenting more than 500 television programmes. His bestseller The Naked Ape has sold more than 20 million copies and ranks among the 100 bestselling books of all time. He was also the author of The Lives of the Surrealists (2018), Postures: Body Language in Art (2019), The British Surrealists (2022) and 101 Surrealists (2024), all published by Thames & Hudson.