Sir Roland Penrose was an instrumental figure in the British art scene of the post-war period. Highlights of Penrose’s legacy include his pioneering monograph on Pablo Picasso, his role as co-founder of the British Surrealist movement and later of the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, and of his extraordinary collection of cubist and surrealist art gifted to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh. Penrose’s role as collector and promoter of surrealist art would prove pivotal in the evolution of artistic taste in Britain, ensuring that the movement grew from an underappreciated jumble of foreign ideas into a key element in the nation’s collective artistic psyche.
Penrose’s own artistic career began in his early twenties, following his escape from London ‘with a cry of delight’ to Paris in 1922. In 1926 Penrose came across a set of Max Ernst’s Histoire naturelle drawings, an experience which he described as akin to "waking up in a foreign country". Setting out to become a surrealist artist, Penrose met and rapidly formed close relationships with Picasso, Ernst and Éluard, each of whom would influence his work as painter and collage artist. In contrast to many members of the Surrealist movement, including André Breton, who focused on communicating the political and ideological aspects of the movement, Penrose adopted a surrealist manner to his mode of living. As an example, in 1937 he attended an exhibition in the company of Max Ernst, Penrose with one hand and one foot dyed bright blue, whereas Ernst’s hair was died to match. On his return to Britain in 1938, Penrose would undertake a career dedicated to the promotion of the Surrealist movement both within academia and the general public, guiding institutions such as the Tate and the National Galleries of Scotland in the building of their eminent holdings of surrealist art.