A Czech artist who lived mostly in France and who, even back in Prague, was friends with the group of surrealists gathered around André Breton, she – or he, given a distaste for female pronouns – was a precursor of themes that we consider very modern today, both in life – anarchism, queerness – and in art. Toyen innovated cubism into abstract art with the explicit goal of creating art that would stir up emotions by going beyond the visual.
