On November 13, 2025, Eva Švankmajerová's exhibition "Woe to the Image..." opened at the DOX gallery.
Official exhibition text:
The exhibition will present the complete work of painter, poet, set designer, writer, and leading artist of the Czech surrealist movement, Eva Švankmajerová. In addition to her independent work (paintings, drawings, sculptures), it will also showcase her original ceramics, painted furniture, decorations for Jan Švankmajer's films, and film poster designs.
After studying at DAMU (scenography for puppet theater), she dedicated herself to independent work and contributed artistically to films by Jan Švankmajer, Jiří Brdečka, and Juraj Herz. She also collaborated with Laterna Magika. From 1964–1968, she was a member of Skupina Máj, and from 1970 until the end of her life, a member of the surrealist group. Eva Švankmajerová's artistic work uniquely intertwines admiration for the naive art of Henri Rousseau with surrealist imagination and sarcastic humor. Key themes in her work included the female body and the female plight in a male-dominated society. She approached these with her characteristic ruthless irony and self-irony, which she also applied to emancipation efforts. Through various techniques, she explored the imaginative possibilities of the image, and themes such as eroticism, humor, alchemy, nature, as well as household, family, and female roles permeated her entire oeuvre. Poetry was fundamental to her, whether expressed through painting, drawing, sculpture, poem, or text, and the creative process itself was more important to her than the resulting artifact.
We also launched the exhibition catalog after the last day of the exhibition and you can soon buy it in our e-shop
Curator: Anna Pravdová in collaboration with Jan Švankmajer
Photos by Václav Vašků