TEA Tenerife Espacio de las Artes is presenting ‘Óscar Domínguez. Cartas a Marcelle Ferry’, an exhibition examining the relationship between the Surrealist painter Óscar Domínguez and the writer Marcelle Ferry through their correspondence and key works from the 1930s. Curated by Isidro Hernández, the exhibition is on view in the museum’s Gabinete Óscar Domínguez in Santa Cruz de Tenerife from 27 March to 18 October 2026.
The Gabinete Óscar Domínguez is a permanent space at TEA dedicated to displaying the artist’s work and enabling focused research into particular aspects of his legacy. The museum says the space also contributes to the conservation of its holdings. In the current presentation, letters and artworks are brought together to consider Domínguez not only as a painter but also as a writer and political activist, linking his erotic and creative imagery with the unsettled political circumstances surrounding his final journey to Tenerife.
Domínguez, who was born in Tenerife in 1906 and died in Paris in 1957, has been regarded as one of the major figures of the International Surrealist Movement, alongside artists including Joan Miró, Salvador Dalí and Remedios Varo. He spent his childhood between La Laguna and Tacoronte and, from 1927, divided his time between Paris and visits to his home island. Paris became his permanent home from 1936.
His relationship with Ferry, born in Normandy in 1904, took place between late 1935 and 1938. Domínguez dedicated one of his best-known paintings, ‘Le dimanche ou Rut marin’ (1935), to her. The work, held in the TEA collection, depicts an uncanny, childlike carousel populated by fragmented animals and a kite made from lips. The museum describes the painting as a high point of Domínguez’s poetic imagination and suggests that its imagery carries an amorous message.
The exhibition includes letters written on paper bearing the printed addresses of Parisian restaurants and cafés. According to TEA, the correspondence offers evidence of Domínguez’s sentimental life as well as his creative inclinations and political concerns. One letter shown in the exhibition is dated 2 May 1936 and written on Grand Café Suisse letterhead. Another, sent on 18 May during Domínguez’s final visit to the Canary Islands, refers to his participation in political activities involving the occupation of the bishopric and seminary in La Laguna by young people demanding that the buildings be used for educational purposes.
That final visit forms a central historical frame for the presentation. Domínguez travelled from Calais to the Canary Islands on 1 May 1936 and took part in an exhibition of contemporary art organised by Gaceta de Arte and the ADLAN group at Tenerife’s Círculo de Bellas Artes. On 18 July, the day before his planned return to France, a military uprising began. Domínguez sought refuge at his sister Julia’s house in Puerto de la Cruz, where he painted the portraits of his niece and nephew, Gloria and Víctor—identified by TEA as his last paintings made in Tenerife. The exhibition is free to visit in Sala A, on the second floor, from Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 8pm; the museum is closed on Mondays except public holidays.
