Five framed British Surrealist postcards, published by the Surrealist Group in England and showing E. L. T. Mesens' The Well of Truth, produced for the International Surrealist Exhibition, 1936 each 15 x 11cm

On Thursday 11 June 1936, Britain’s very first Surrealist exhibition opened at the Burlington Galleries. Representing fourteen nations, the exposition included works by Dali, Agar, Oppenheim, Duchamp, Man Ray, Banting, Magritte, Picasso, Fini, Calder and Breton, amongst many others. Representing Belgium was E.L.T Messens, who produced the present postcards to advertise the show. In addition to the flat art and sculptures displayed in the gallery, a number of symposiums and performances were held. Dali, for example, held a lecture whilst wearing a deep-sea diving suit, whilst, on another occasion, poet Dylan Thomas carried around a cup of boiled string, asking visitors would they rather it "weak or strong?”. Initially opening to a crowd of around 2,000, the daily visitor numbers to the exhibition averaged around 1,000 until its close on Saturday 4 July 1936.