The Surrealist Menagerie Hardcover by Desmond Morris

Product Details

• Publisher: Thames and Hudson (2026-09-22)
• Language: English
• Paperback: 256 pages
• ISBN-13: 9780500030578
• Item Weight: 856.17 grams
• Dimensions: 24.13 x 16.61 x 3.02 cm

Explore how animals shaped the surrealist imagination through the eyes of celebrated zoologist and surrealist artist Desmond Morris in this fascinating exploration of the natural world.

Authored by renowned zoologist Desmond Morris—the last surviving member of the surrealist movement—The Surrealist Menagerie explores the many ways that animals have been represented in surrealist art. Creature by creature, Morris plots an uncanny and entertaining expedition through the animal kingdom as reinterpreted by the likes of Max Ernst, René Magritte, Dorothea Tanning, and Remedios Varo. Combining the trained eye of a scientist and a unique insider’s perspective, Morris provides extraordinary insights into the significance and symbolism of specific life-forms in some of the movement’s most imaginative works.

From Leonora Carrington’s hyenas to Salvador Dalí's chimeras, Leonor Fini's cats to Félix Labisse's mollusks, nonhuman creatures became enduring points of fascination for many surrealist artists. These recurring motifs were used to explore ideas of mutability, psychology, the marvelous, the natural, and the uncanny.

More than a bestiary of the bizarre, The Surrealist Menagerie is a celebration of one of modern art’s most revolutionary movements—a must-read for lovers of surrealism, zoology, and the beautiful strangeness of the natural world.

About the Author

Desmond Morris (1928–2026) was a bestselling author, surrealist painter, and renowned zoologist. After completing his doctorate in zoology at Oxford University, he spent his early career alongside David Attenborough in the natural history unit of the BBC. He has written a number of books, including The Naked Ape, which ranks among the top 100 bestsellers of all time, with over twenty million copies sold, and The Lives of the Surrealists, Postures: Body Language in Art, The British Surrealists, and 101 Surrealists.