ABSTRACT
The study of Angel Planells’ oeuvre has underscored his sui generis relationship with Bretonian surrealism whilst pinpointing his position as a genuine surrealist in terms of contestation of traditional structures and systems of thought. His surrealism can be categorised as fantastic, inspired by his reading of Edgar Allan Poe from an early age. The works exhibited in Barcelona and London in 1936 presented Planells as an artist interested in questions related to women’s agency, with Midday Sorrow proposing a reflection on the pairing object/subject that anticipates Rene Magritte’s The Rape. Planells contributed to what Michel Lefebvre-Pena has called ‘graphic war’, producing four anti-fascist drawings that were published in the anarchist magazine Vida Nueva. The employment of games and play in Planells is also associated with a ludic dimension in his surrealist work that materialises as metaplaying and strengthens the link with Poe’s narrative.
