Picasso and the Surrealist summer
BBC Sounds – Witness History
June 2026
In the summer of 1937, some of the 20th Century’s most famous artists, writers and photographers were holidaying in the south of France. They included artist Pablo Picasso, photographer Lee Miller, poet Paul Éluard and the painter Man Ray. The group were part of the Surrealist movement – a style of art inspired by dreams and hidden thoughts that can look strange and bizarre - and one of their most recent converts was artist Eileen Agar.