Shapeshifting
06.11 – 12.12.2026
Co-curated by Roland-Philippe Kretzschmar
Dorothea Tanning
Elsa Thoresen
Isabelle Zetterström
Jenny Palén
Opening
Friday, 06.11 at 6 – 8 PM
Belenius
Dorothea Tanning (b. 1910) in Galesburg, Illinois, USA. Died 2012 in New York, USA.
Dorothea Tanning was an American painter and sculptor who lived and worked in the United States and France. Tanning became involved in Surrealism in New York in the early 1940s. She married Max Enrst in 1946 and associated with Surrealists in exile, including André Breton and Marcel Duchamp. Her work was exhibited by influential galleries Julien Levy and Alexander Iolas, and she participated in Peggy Guggenheim’s pioneering Exhibition by 31 Women in 1943. Tanning soon established herself as a leading figure in post-war American art.
Tanning’s Surrealism is subtle and captivating, turning familiar domestic spaces into strange and dreamlike worlds. Her work slowly blurs the line between reality and fantasy, drawing viewers into scenes that feel both familiar and unsettling. A mix of curiosity, unease, and erotic tension makes her work both mysterious and engaging. Today, she is considered one of the foremost and most distinctive surrealists, with her work represented in museums and collections worldwide.
Combining eroticism and esoteric symbolism, Tanning created deeply personal and enigmatic works that earned critical acclaim. Major institutions, including the Centre Pompidou and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, later dedicated retrospectives to her. After Ernst’s death in 1976, she returned to New York, where she lived until her death on January 31, 2012. Her work was exhibited at Tate Modern in London in 2019.
Elsa Thoresen (b. 1906) in Benson, Minnesota, USA. Died 1994 in Seattle, Washington, USA.
Thoresen was a Surrealist painter who lived and worked in Norway, Denmark, Sweden and the USA. Thoresen studied at Statens håndverks- og kunstindustriskole in Oslo 1924 – 1927, at Statens Kunstakademi in Oslo 1927 – 1930 and at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Brussels 1928 – 1929. Thoresen lived in Copenhagen between 1935 – 1944. Escaping the Nazi occupation of Denmark in 1944, Thoresen lived and worked in Stockholm and spent her summers in Halmstad. She moved back to the USA in 1953 where she lived until her death.
Thoresen’s work was shown at the Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme in Paris in 1938, organized by surrealist theorist André Breton and possibly the movement’s most important poet Paul Éluard. In 1947 she was the only woman in the Danish group at the International Surrealist Exhibition in the Galerie Maeght in Paris. Thoresen’s later paintings became more abstract, drawing the viewer into the quiet intimate smaller format, to take part of what appears to be almost a choreography of movement of shapes. After her passing, Thoresen’s works have been shown in museum exhibitions in Louisiana, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, COBRA Museum voor Moderne Kunst, Amstelveen, Holland, Artipelag, Stockholm, Musée de Montmartre, Paris and Cascadia Art Museum, Edmonds, WA, USA.
Isabelle Zetterström (b. 1995) is an English-Swedish artist, based in London, UK.
Zetterström’s ethereal practice spans painting, works on paper, ceramics, and performance. Her oil paintings and watercolours on paper open portals into ambiguous terrains, while her ceramics serve as artefacts gathered from within these imagined realms. Her atmospheres drift between micro and macro, into deep seas and celestial perspectives; pulsating forms unfurl in tones of blood, merging with volcanic greys, noctilucent pools resemble water, as floating branches shift into veins, awakening an uncanny sense of awe and unease.
Zetterström views painting as a spiritual act, a dance with the subconscious, exposing the soul to unseen forces. Summoning paintings from the abyss, she escapes into them, only to find her own reflection. Isabelle graduated with a MA in Painting from Royal College of Art, London in 2026. Her work has been shown across the UK and Europe. This marks her first exhibition in Sweden.
Jenny Palén (b. 1982) is an artist and filmworker who lives and work in Stockholm.
She graduated from the Royal Art Institute in Stockholm 2015. Her work consists of installations, video and sculpture. In recent years her practice has been focused on existential and surreal themes addressed though film, performance and scenography. She used to be a graffiti artist, which is evident in her drawing style with characteristic lines and distinct colours. Caracters from images reappears in sculptural works and videos.
Between 2006 – 2011 Jenny Palén co-founded and ran the independent art space Bastard Gallery in Stockholm. Her work has been showed at The Art Academy in Stockholm, Fullersta Gård, National Gallery in Prague and Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Between 2016 – 2017 Palén has studied acting and is currently developing projects where art and theatre intertwine.
