Handwritten and unprinted and created on the initiative of the poet Paul Colinet, Vendredi is one of the most singular surrealist ‘reviews’ in Belgium. It appeared from 11 November 1949 to 5 October 1951, as one hundred single copy issues, each containing between 2 and 10 pages.

A liaison newsletter as much as a gesture of friendship and a collective undertaking as much as a mosaic, Vendredi is one of the most amazing documents among the multitude of surrealist activities in Belgium. This magnificent ‘incunabulum’, a testimony to Belgian surrealist activity at its most spontaneous, has been able to be acquired thanks to the patronage of the KBFUS, the American philanthropic arm of the King Baudouin Foundation.

Once it had been produced, the review containing texts, collages and drawings, was sent by post to the artist Robert Willems, Colinet’s nephew, who was living at the time in the Belgian Congo.

Vendredi is thus some 900 pages of flimsy paper which, over a period of almost two years, saw the collaboration of Paul Colinet and the Belgian surrealists. Leafing through the issues, we come across contributions from René Magritte, Marcel Mariën, Louis Scutenaire, Irène Hamoir and Armand Permantier as well as the younger artists Christian Dotremont, Marcel Broodhtaers, Marcel and Gabriel Piqueray and Pierre Alechinsky, and input from the entourage of Robert Willems and his wife, making Vendredi as much a family as a surrealist review.

In-depth analysis of this document should lead to a fresh look being given to the Belgian surrealist movement.