Which surrealist artist created the fur-covered teacup, saucer, and spoon?

The surrealist artist who created the fur-covered teacup, saucer, and spoon was Meret Oppenheim.

Oppenheim made the work in 1936 and originally described it simply as a cup, saucer, and spoon covered with fur. The ordinary tea set becomes strange and unusable when wrapped in animal fur, a classic Surrealist transformation that joins domestic familiarity with tactile discomfort and absurdity.

The idea arose during a Paris café conversation with Pablo Picasso and Dora Maar. Picasso suggested that almost anything could be covered in fur after noticing Oppenheim’s fur-covered bracelet; Oppenheim replied that the idea could apply even to a cup and saucer. André Breton later gave the work its better-known French title, Le Déjeuner en fourrure, echoing Édouard Manet’s Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe.

The object appeared in Surrealist exhibitions in 1936 and was soon acquired by New York’s Museum of Modern Art. It is often called Object, Fur Breakfast, or Breakfast in Fur. The artist’s name is sometimes written “Méret Oppenheim,” but “Meret Oppenheim” is the same artist.