Three of Spain’s greatest artists are rewriting the rules of the book at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Picasso, Miró, Dalí: Unbound, now on view in the Lois B. and Michael K. Torf Gallery (Gallery 184) through January 24, 2027, celebrates the livre d’artiste — the “artist’s book” that revolutionized publishing at the turn of the 20th century.
Bold, experimental and extravagant, these books had no precedent. Picasso, Joan Miró and Salvador Dalí each pushed the form in wildly original directions, and the exhibition shows how deeply collaborative the ventures were: authors, publishers, designers and printmakers all played essential roles in bringing these works to life.
Visitors can explore how images, words and typography intersect in ways that defy expectations — from Dalí’s 1974 illustrations for Sigmund Freud’s Moses and Monotheism to Juan Gris and French poet Pierre Reverdy’s Au Soleil du Plafond (1955), created in true harmony of image and word. Rarely on view and resisting easy categorization, these books invite visitors into a world where creativity and collaboration produced some of the most singular achievements of 20th-century publishing.
Mark your calendar for the $5 Third Thursday special event on October 15, 2026, from 5:00 to 10:00 pm — a perfect night to discover the exhibition. A virtual member lecture on the show follows on December 9.
Photo: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
