A Symposium
- Artist: Julian Trevelyan
- Date: 1936
- Medium: Oil paint and graphite on board
- Dimensions: object: 660 x 918 mm
- Museum: Tate Britain
- Collection record: Tate Britain website
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About this artwork
The painting "A Symposium" by Julian Trevelyan, completed in 1936, is an assemblage that blends oil paint and graphite on a wooden panel. The canvas measures roughly 660 × 918 mm and is built from four smaller compositions – each a blend of oil and pencil on plywood – which he then mounted onto a larger base. Trevelyan first fell into surrealism while at Cambridge, later refining his style during his Paris years (1931‑34) alongside Klee, Miró and Calder.
In "A Symposium" the artist fuses painting with carving, attaching separately painted wooden pieces to create a kind of “mythology of cities.” He explains that “I had invented a sort of mythology of cities, of fragile structures carrying here and there a few waif‑like inhabitants.” The work evokes a city as a nervous system – a central hub surrounded by arteries of life. This is reflected in the layered forms and graphic lines.
The piece has appeared in several exhibitions, including the 2005–2015 “Surrealism and Beyond” display, and was presented to the gallery by Friends of the Tate Gallery in 1966.
See it in person
A Symposium is in the collection of Tate Britain on Millbank, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
