The surrealist collective drawing game in which each participant adds to folded paper is Exquisite Corpse.
Known in French as cadavre exquis, the game hides each participant’s contribution by folding the paper before passing it onward. Players may add words or draw sections of a figure without seeing the complete work, creating unexpected combinations through chance and collaboration.
The Surrealists developed the game in Paris around 1925. André Breton associated its early players with artists and writers including Marcel Duhamel, Jacques Prévert, Yves Tanguy, and Benjamin Péret. The name came from the sentence produced during an early word game: “The exquisite corpse shall drink the new wine.”
A common mix-up is treating Exquisite Corpse as only a drawing exercise. Its original forms also involved assembling words, while later versions became picture games, collage projects, story chains, films, music, and other collaborative works. Automatic drawing is related to Surrealist experimentation but does not require multiple people taking concealed turns.