Friedrich Schröder-Sonnenstern in the E.R.O.S. (1959) exhibition
The story of a surrealist exhibition through the Daniel Cordier collection
Since their opening in 2000, Les Abattoirs, Musée - Frac Occitanie Toulouse has housed the Daniel Cordier collection, donated to the Musée national d’art moderne - Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris). A former secretary to Jean Moulin, Compagnon de la Libération and art lover, Daniel Cordier was also a gallery owner from 1956 to 1964 - “eight years of agitation”, as he put it.
At the heart of this period, in 1959, he hosted the eighth Exposition inteRnatiOnale du Surréalisme, “E.R.O.S.”, celebrating eroticism. Today, Les Abattoirs invites you to delve into the history of this event.
Friedrich Schröder-Sonnenstern was born on the German-Russian border and received little education. Accusations of theft and occasionally aggressive behavior led to his being sent to reformatories and even to a psychiatric hospital. From these experiences, he developed a deep hatred for authority. After a number of odd jobs—working in a circus and as a fortune teller, among others—Schröder-Sonnenstern fell ill; doctors diagnosed him with early-onset dementia. He then turned to painting and drawing, having been introduced to art during a brief period in prison earlier in his life. Using colored pencils on thin washes of paint to achieve depth, Schröder-Sonnenstern drew grotesque, colorful[…]