Don’t miss a gem
This autumn, Louisa Guinness Gallery presents Surrealist Jewels 101, a new exhibition marking 101 years since the birth of the surrealist movement. But this is no retrospective. It’s a provocative showcase of jewellery that straddles art and ornament, inviting viewers into a world where watches weep, brooches blink, and beauty takes an unexpected form.
Opening on 25 September 2025, the exhibition brings together a rare mix of historic works, private loans, and new commissions — many shown publicly for the first time. Expect pieces by Salvador Dalí, Man Ray, Claude Lalanne, Niki de Saint Phalle, Arman and Max Ernst, alongside emerging designers selected personally by Louisa Guinness.
Man Ray, The Oculist, Brooch or necklace, 18k gold with malachite Edition of 12 + 1 AP, executed by GEM Montebello AP 1_1, signed and stamped
“This isn’t just a jewellery show about surrealism, It’s a surrealist experience. I’ve spent years collecting and curating artist-made jewellery, and I know when a piece pushes boundaries. I chose these works because they each capture something surreal, something unforgettable. Whether it’s a master or a new voice, the artists in this show are all speaking surrealism — that’s what matters.”
Louisa Guiness
Louisa Guinness wearing jewellery by Anish Kapoor and Claude Lalanne. Ring and earrings by Kapoor; necklace by Lalanne. Photographed by Ryanna Allen, 2020.
Among the exhibition’s highlights is The Eye of Time, conceived by Salvador Dalí in 1949 as a gift for his wife Gala. Crafted in platinum with diamonds, rubies, and blue enamel, this mechanical brooch is both timepiece and totem — surrealism in motion. It hasn’t been seen in London since the 1960s and will be available for special viewing from 24 to 26 September only.
Salvador Dali, The Eye of Time
Louisa Guinness Gallery has built its reputation on presenting artist-made jewellery as fine art. Since opening in 2003, it has championed the medium through both historical curation and direct collaborations with living artists. This exhibition continues that approach, placing 20th-century icons in dialogue with bold new voices — a format that disrupts hierarchies and rewrites the traditional art–jewellery divide.
New commissions stand alongside museum-quality pieces, creating a deliberately uneven rhythm. There are no neat categories here, just surrealism in all its layered forms — humorous, unsettling, dreamlike.
Max Ernst 'Tête aux Seins' Pendant
For Guinness, jewellery isn’t decorative — it’s dimensional. She treats these works as small-scale sculptures: objects made to be worn, yes, but also to provoke, puzzle and endure. Over the years she’s collaborated with the likes of Anish Kapoor, Gavin Turk and Tim Noble & Sue Webster to produce works that exist between studio and street.
Surrealist Jewels 101 continues this legacy, reminding visitors that jewellery can be serious, conceptual, even irrational — without losing any of its intimacy.
Phalle Nana with bag Brooch & Necklace
You’ll have seen images above of several other pieces featured in Surrealist Jewels 101. Each one offers a different take on wearable surrealism — here’s the story behind them:
Man Ray’s The Oculist, shown as both a brooch and necklace, balances 18k gold and malachite in a hypnotic eye form — a direct play on vision, symbolism and his fascination with the subconscious. Max Ernst’s Tête aux Seins, a pendant first conceived in 1961, distorts the female bust into a compact surrealist sculpture, layering body, object and meaning in a single wearable piece.
Niki de Saint Phalle’s Nana with Bag, from 1974 and reissued in 2015, transforms her exuberant, full-figured Nana into jewellery that moves with you — bold, colourful and impossible to ignore. And finally, Salvador Dalí’s Lips brooch, executed by master goldsmith Henryk Kaston, uses rubies and cultured pearls to evoke the sensuality and satire of Dalí’s Mae West portraits, turning a mouth into a moment of visual double-take.
This exhibition lands at a moment when the art and jewellery worlds are circling each other more closely than ever. But Louisa Guinness isn’t jumping on a trend — she helped build the bridge.
With surrealism as the lens, Surrealist Jewels 101 opens up a fresh conversation about wearability, perception and power. It’s not just a show. It’s a challenge: to see jewellery differently.
Salvador Dali Henryk Kaston for Salvador Dali cultured pearl and ruby lips brooch.
Surrealist Jewels 101 runs from 25 September to 7 November 2025 at Louisa Guinness Gallery, 104 Kensington Church Street, London.
Dalí’s The Eye of Time will be on special view from 24 to 26 September only.
For full details, visit louisaguinnessgallery.com or follow @louisaguinnessgallery on Instagram for previews, updates and highlights from the show.
View the full gallery below to explore these pieces in detail.
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