The archive consists of 37 drafts of publications and letters dating from 1948 after Breton had returned to France from his exile in the United States to 1965, several months before his death. The draft writings, primarily texts for exhibition catalogs and exhibition reviews, document his intense activity to promote artists in the last two decades of his life.

French writer André Breton (1896-1966) was the main founder, theorist, and promoter of surrealism. Born in Tinchebray in Normandy, Breton first studied medicine and during World War I was stationed in psychiatric wards at several hospitals. From this period dates his study of psychiatry and his discovery of Freud's theories on the unconscious and dreams, which would later be fundamental to his development of surrealism. He corresponded with Guillaume Apollinaire, who later introduced him to many of his collaborators, became friends with Paul Éluard, and began collecting artworks, such as in 1913 an object from Easter Island, in 1918 a drawing by Amedeo Modigliani, in 1920 a painting by André Derain and in 1921 Tête by Pablo Picasso. He later actively collected objects from Africa and Oceania.

0.3 Linear Feet(69 sheets)

Open for use by qualified researchers.