[PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY]

Meandering through the dimly-lit exhibition halls of Hong Kong Museum of Art, I catch remarks such as "What is the painter trying to get at exactly?" which is perhaps natural, as the show title being Mythologies: Surrealism and Beyond — Masterpieces from Centre Pompidou.

Surrealism is a philosophical, literary, and artistic movement begun in Europe in the 1920s. The surrealists rejected an objective vision of reality in favor of the unconscious and irrational, endowing their creations with dream-like, fantastical features.

Didier Ottinger, deputy director of the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou, who curated the show, says, "Surrealism is a modern art movement. Experimentation with technique is at the hea