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Mythe de la lumière
© Toyen/Bildupphovsrätt 2026
Mythe de la lumière
Mythe de la lumière
Photo: Prallan Allsten/Moderna Museet

Mythe de la lumière

by Toyen
Artist (Tjeckien, 1902 - 1980)
Alternate Title
  • Myten om ljuset
  • The Myth of Light
Date1946
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsBildmått: 160 × 75 cm Ram: 162,5 × 77,2 × 4 cm
Classification
Credit LineDonation 1970 från Moderna Museets Vänner
On view
Stockholm
RoomGallery 01:7
Object NumberNM 6330
CollectionsModerna Museets Vänner
About the artworkToyen, an abbreviation of the French word citoyen, citizen, was born in Prague as Marie Cerminová. In the 1930s, she met the surrealist pioneer André Breton and exhibited together with other surrealists in Paris. On returning to Czechoslovakia, she formed a surrealist group there. During the German occupation, she was prohibited from showing her work but secretly published collages and drawings in which she expressed her hatred of censorship. Toyen hid her friend, the poet Jindrich Heisler, who was Jewish, in her home during the war. In this painting, a shadow in profile holding out a plant appears against one half of a double door. On the other half, white-gloved hands form the shadow image of a barking dog’s head. The threat against someone’s precarious existence is portrayed with the dream-like logic of collage. Selected exhibition history Moderna Museets samling i ny presentation (1998-2000) Moderna Museet, Stockholm Rétrospective Toyen: une femme surréaliste (den 13 juni 2002 - den 30 september 2002) Musée d'art moderne, Villeneuve d'Ascq Supersurrealismen (den 29 september 2012 - den 27 januari 2013) Moderna Museet Malmö Om det absurda (den 26 oktober 2024 - den 23 februari 2025) Moderna Museet Malmö Den underjordiska himlen. Surrealism i Moderna Museets samling (den 26 oktober 2024 - den 17 januari 2027) Moderna Museet, Stockholm Internationell Surrealism (1998) Moderna Museet, Stockholm Givet av MMV (1972) Moderna Museet, Stockholm Samlingsutställning 2004 - 2011 - I vår tid (2004 - 2011) Moderna Museet, Stockholm Samlingsutställning 2019-2022 (den 1 februari 2019 - den 27 augusti 2023) Moderna Museet, Stockholm Moderna Museet c/o Bildmuseet - Dada och surrealism (2003) Bildmuseet, Umeå Toyen (1985) Moderna Museet, Stockholm The Moderna Museet exhibition catalogues Toyen : Moderna Museet : 24 augusti - 6 oktober 1985Givet av Moderna Museets vänner : [Moderna Museet : 22.1 - 13.2 1972] Bibliography von Holten, Ragnar, Toyen: En surrealistisk visionär, Köping 1984, s 42, ill. s 43. Bulletinen, MMVs tidskrift, 3/85. Taube, Maria och Gedin, Marika, Hjärtats bilder, Stockholm 1993, s 102, ill. s 103. Srp, Karel, Toyen, Prag 2000, s 180, s 186, s 191, ill. s 189. Taube, Maria, Kärleken och döden: Konst på Moderna Museet, Stockholm 2002, s 66, ill. s 67.