Sotheby's Paris / André Breton/ 9 exceptional manuscripts / May 20, 2008 On May 20, 2008, Sotheby’s Paris will offer probably the most remarkable manuscript of the 20th century in France: the autographed manuscript of the Manifeste du surréalisme written in 1924
News-Antique.com - Jan 31,2008 - ANDRÉ BRETON
NINE EXCEPTIONAL AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPTS
FROM THE COLLECTION OF SIMONE COLLINET,
ANDRÉ BRETON’S FIRST WIFE
Manifeste du surréalisme
Poisson soluble
Poisson soluble II (7 cahiers d’écriture automatique)
AUCTION IN PARIS: 20 MAY 2008
VIEWING
LONDON, 29 JANUARY TO 4 FEBRUARY 2008
PARIS, 15 TO 19 MAY 2008
Sotheby’s is delighted to announce the sale in Paris on May 20, 2008 of an exceptional collection of
nine manuscripts by the French writer André Breton. The group, which is being sold by the family of
Breton’s first wife, Simone Collinet, has until now never come to the market.
The most remarkable document in the collection is without doubt the only known autograph
manuscript of the Manifeste du surréalisme, which was written in 1924 and which defines “once and
for all” the Surrealists’ credo. The 21-page paper, which is richly marked and annotated, was
originally meant as an introduction to the publication of automatic texts by Breton under the title
Poisson soluble. However, in the course of his writing, Breton expanded on his ideas and developed a
theory of greater ambition; one which reconciles - from a Freudian background - literature and life,
through a new type of language, stimulated by dreams, imagination, insanity, chance, license, or fear.
Breton writes: « Il s’agissait de remonter aux sources de l’imagination poétique, et, qui plus est, de
s’y tenir. C’est ce que je ne prétends pas avoir fait. Il faut prendre beaucoup sur soi pour vouloir
s’établir dans ces régions reculées où tout a d’abord l’air de se passer si mal (…) Toujours est-il
qu’une flèche indique maintenant la direction de ces pays et que l’atteinte du but véritable ne dépend
plus que de l’endurance du voyageur »
The manifesto sees Breton pay an unforgettable tribute to his contemporaries « qui ont entendu la voix
surréaliste, celle qui continue à prêcher à la veille de la mort et au-dessus des orages ». Estimated at
€300 000-500 000, the manuscript was first exhibited to the public in 2002 when it featured in La
Révolution Surréaliste at the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
A second highlight of the collection is the definitive autograph version of Poisson soluble, perhaps the
most important of Breton’s automatic writings. This document was published in 1924 by Simon Kra
together with the Manifeste du surréalisme. Estimated at €200,000-300,000, the extensive 59 page
manuscript brings together some 32 texts and is the result of four years of automatic writing between
1921 and 1924. As a key statement of the manifesto’s ideas, Poisson soluble was acclaimed and
considered a fundamental work of the Surrealist movement, particularly by the writer Julien Gracq,
who was deeply influenced by Breton’s work. Gracq states: « d’une légèreté contagieuse, par la
présence d’une nature miniaturisée, toute de douceur et de délicatesse, une nature déjà en marche
vers l’homme, où est partout présente la femme naturellement fée ». In a letter to Jean Gaulmier,
dated January 21, 1958, Breton explains the origin of Poisson soluble : « Ces 32 textes
