Abstract with Eye and Breast
Can I see it?
Not on view at present
Where is “Abstract with Eye and Breast” now? Collection: Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Not on view at present. Checked September 25, 2026.
London, United Kingdom
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the work
Grace Pailthorpe (1883–1971) was a surgeon, psychoanalyst and Surrealist artist. In 1935 she met Reuben Mednikoff, an advertising artist 23 years her junior. They began a life-long collaboration in which they used Surrealist ‘automatic’ processes as methods of psychoanalytic experimentation. In this painting, Pailthorpe uses watercolour bleeding to create chance patterns which she has developed into figurative elements based on the unconscious associations they triggered. It was made in 1938, during Pailthorpe and Mednikoff’s formal association with the British Surrealist group. Eyes were a recurring motif for the Surrealist movement. In this work, the artist combines the spherical forms of eyes with those of breasts, reflecting her interest in the theories of Melanie Klein, a child psychoanalyst.
Victoria and Albert Museum
Details
- Accession number
- P.40-1983
What it shows
In the catalog
Sources
- Victoria and Albert Museum
- Image: Victoria and Albert Museum — © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
