La famille en métamorphose (Décoration murale) (The Family in Metamorphosis [Wall Decorations])

In 1929, André Masson broke from André Breton’s “orthodox” Surrealist group to enter into the sphere of the dissident current associated with the Documents magazine. Via one of its editors, museologist Georges Henri Rivière, he came into contact with the banker and art collector Pierre David-Weill, who commissioned him to make two murals to decorate the dining room of his Paris apartment, one of them being La famille en metamorphose (The Family in a State of Metamorphosis). Metamorphosis and transmutation are central themes in the work of both Masson and the Surrealists, particularly those from the Documents group, and with them he shared a fascination with infinitely mutable manifestations of nature. In La famille en metamorphose he circumvents close, isolated forms to depict the metamorphic process and balance turbulence with formal beauty. Serpentine lines and organic forms on a vague background predominate the composition and refer to the work of Joan Miró.



Raúl Martínez Arranz