In the wake of World War I’s ravaging of Europe, artists delved into the unconscious mind to confront and grapple with this reality. Poet and critic André Breton, a leader of the Surrealist movement who authored the 1924 Surrealist Manifesto, called this approach “a violent reaction against the impoverishment and sterility of thought processes that resulted from centuries of rationalism.” Surrealist art emerged in the 1920s with dreamlike and uncanny imagery guided by a variety of techniques such as automatic drawing, which can be likened to a stream of consciousness, to channel psychological experiences.
Although Surrealism was a groundbreaking approach for European art, its practitioners were inspired by Indigenous art and ancient mysticism for reenvisioning how sculptures, paintings, prints, performance art and more could respond to the unsettled world around them.
Surrealist artists were also informed by the Dada movement, which originated in 1916 Zurich and embraced absurdity over the logic that had propelled modernity into violence. Some of the Surrealists had witnessed this firsthand, such as Max Ernst, who served in the trenches during World War I, and Salvador Dalí, whose otherworldly paintings and other work responded to the dawning civil war in Spain.
Other key artists associated with the revolutionary art and literary movement included Man Ray, Joan Miró, René Magritte, Yves Tanguy, Frida Kahlo and Meret Oppenheim, all of whom had a distinct perspective on reimagining reality and freeing the unconscious mind from the conventions and restrictions of rational thought. Pablo Picasso showed some of his works in “La Peinture Surréaliste” — the first collective exhibition of Surrealist painting — which opened at Paris’s Galerie Pierre in November of 1925. (Although Magritte is best known as one of the visual Surrealist movement’s most talented practitioners, his famous 1943 painting, The Fifth Season, can be interpreted as a formal break from Surrealism.)
The outbreak of World War II led many in the movement to flee Europe for the Americas, further spreading Surrealism abroad. Generations of modern and contemporary artists were subsequently influenced by the richly symbolic and unearthly imagery of Surrealism, from Joseph Cornell to Arshile Gorky.
Find a collection of original Surrealist paintings, sculptures, prints and multiples and more art on 1stDibs.
$2,333Sale Price|20% Off
Surreal Anthropomorphic Interior, Dalí Circle Cadaqués Spanish Oil Painting art
Located in Sitges, Barcelona
Surreal Anthropomorphic Interior, Dalí Circle Cadaqués Spanish Oil Painting Artist: Antoni Pitxot Technique: Oil on cardboard Date: 1996 Signature: Signed “Pitxot 96” lower left Ins...
Oil
$360Sale Price|20% Off
Flower Pot 9 - 21st Century, Contemporary, Abstract, Still Life, Nature, Floral
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. About Artist Aka...
Canvas, Acrylic
$360Sale Price|20% Off
Flower Pot 4 - 21st Century, Contemporary, Abstract, Still Life, Nature, Floral
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. About Artist Aka...
Canvas, Acrylic
Noah's ark. By Sergej Malishevsky. 2004. Oil on canvas. 70/85 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Sergei Malishevsky (1956–2020) was a Belarusian painter renowned for his distinctive surrealist style and vivid artistic voice. He was in Moscow to Algirdas Malishevsky, the eminent ...
Canvas, Oil
$1,400Sale Price|20% Off
A source - XXI Century, Contemporary Acrylic Architecture Painting, Colorful
Located in Warsaw, PL
Marta Rynkiewicz is a young Polish artist born in 1983. She studied painting with Professor Henryk Czenik and graphic arts with Professor Jerzy Krechowicz, at the Faculty of Paintin...
Canvas, Acrylic
$360Sale Price|20% Off
Flower Pot 2 - 21st Century, Contemporary, Abstract, Still Life, Nature, Floral
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. About Artist Aka...
Canvas, Acrylic
Strategy
Located in Zofingen, AG
Strategy (series “1000 and 1 Night”) In this work, the theme of falling in love shifts into the realm of power and control. The space is constructed like a game board, where movement...
Canvas, Acrylic
Lost in Paradise, Original Painting
Located in San Francisco, CA
Artist Comments
Inspired by her travels, artist Marie-Eve Champagne paints a curated collection of imagery that combines collage and surrealist pictorial approaches. Two oversi...
Acrylic
"Night Swim" (2024) Original Oil Painting on Panel
By Nadezda
Located in Denver, CO
Nadezda's beautiful handmade oil on panel painting "Night Swim" (2024) is a portrait of a young girl in a surreal scene, laying in ocean waters while carried by a shiver of sharks. ...
Oil, Panel
$1,867Sale Price|20% Off
Surrealist Female Nude with Cosmic Orbs and Biomorphic Landscape oil canvas art
Located in Sitges, Barcelona
Surrealist Female Nude with Cosmic Orbs and Biomorphic Landscape Artist: Ángel Preciados Vega Title: Surrealist Nude Vision with Cosmic Orbs, Spanish Oil Painting, 1987 Date: 1987 M...
Oil
Grayish Pink, Oil Painting
Located in San Francisco, CA
Artist Comments
The artwork offers a geometric reimagining of a coastal village from a unique perspective with a thoughtful color palette. The high vantage point shifts focus f...
Oil
A View from the Platform, Oil Painting
Located in San Francisco, CA
Artist Comments
Artist Benjamin Xu renders the familiar landscape of Venice, Italy, into an idealized, dreamlike painting by exploring color, form, and stillness. A stone moori...
Oil
$2,800Sale Price|20% Off
The Ballerina And The Angel - Original Surrealist On Board
Located in Soquel, CA
The Ballerina And The Angel - Original Surrealist On Board Dramatic and dynamic fantasy scene by Russell R. Tripp (American, 1942-2025). This piece depicts a ballerina sitting in the bottom left corner against stone pillars, wearing a deep red leotard, white leggings and pink ballerina shoes...
Oil, Board
$360Sale Price|20% Off
Flower Pot 6 - 21st Century, Contemporary, Abstract, Still Life, Nature, Floral
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. About Artist Aka...
Canvas, Acrylic
$360Sale Price|20% Off
Flower Pot 7 - 21st Century, Contemporary, Abstract, Still Life, Nature, Floral
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. About Artist Aka...
Canvas, Acrylic
Feros "Escape from Reality" Large Surrealist Dreamlike Landscape Painting
By FEROS
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Escape from Reality is a monumental original acrylic and spray painting on canvas by contemporary Ukrainian artist Feros. Measuring 55 × 76 inches, this large-scale surrealist work i...
Acrylic
Optimist, Oil Painting
Located in San Francisco, CA
Artist Comments
Artist Benjamin Xu paints a vibrant architectural scene that explores hope, resilience, and bright horizons. The artwork highlights a balance between structure ...
Oil
Leeward, Oil Painting
Located in San Francisco, CA
Artist Comments
Artist Benjamin Xu presents a geometric architectural scene that conveys a strong sense of shelter, stillness, and spatial harmony. The viewer is drawn into a d...
Oil
$1,100
A Unique, Enigmatic Modern Surrealist City Interior Scene with Figure Profile
Located in Chicago, IL
A Unique, Unusual Surrealist Interior Scene with Abstracted Figure by Notable Chicago Modern Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). Depicting an abstract city apartment interior wit...
Oil, Board
$1,596Sale Price|20% Off
Vintage Modernist Surreal "Metamorphosis" Still Life Exhibited Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Vintage American modernist surreal interior scene oil painting. Oil on canvas. Signed. Framed. Provenance from a Sag Harbor, NY collection. Measuring: 27 by 30 inches overall. Hands...
Canvas, Oil
$360Sale Price|20% Off
Flower Pot 3 - 21st Century, Contemporary, Abstract, Still Life, Nature, Floral
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. About Artist Aka...
Canvas, Acrylic
$2,500
An Abstract, Surrealist 1950s Mid-Century Modern Interior Still Life Painting
Located in Chicago, IL
A Visually Striking, early 1950s Abstract, Surrealist Mid-Century Modern Still Life Painting by Notable Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). Depicting a colorful interior ...
Oil, Masonite
DOCTRINA LUX EST
Located in Zofingen, AG
DOCTRINA LUX EST (Knowledge is Light) This work is about love that opens the eyes. About the moment when the fog lifts — and illusion gives way to clear vision. The eye in the sky sy...
Canvas, Acrylic
$2,000Sale Price|20% Off
CABINET OF CURIOSITIESoriginal large Paula Craioveanu oil Surreal FRAMED
Located in Forest Hills, NY
"Cabinet of Curiosities" Oil on canvas Large original, one-of-a-kind, painting 39x27in Shipped stretched and framed. In this new series artist explores and brings together the old an...
Canvas, Oil
"Ashore" (2024) Original Oil Painting on Panel
By Nadezda
Located in Denver, CO
Nadezda's beautiful handmade oil on panel painting "Ashore" (2024) is a portrait of a young girl clutching her face contently while resting in a white decorative chair, captured in a...
Oil, Panel
$1,480Sale Price|20% Off
Vintage Surrealist Figurative -- At the Hop
Located in Soquel, CA
Vintage Surrealist Figurative -- At the Hop Vibrant, dreamy abstract expressionist painting by California artist Molly E. Brubaker (American, 1922-2000). Unframed. Image, 30"H x 24"...
Canvas, Oil
Night Sea
Located in Zofingen, AG
This picture is about a romantic meeting of a Man and a Woman. Between them are memories. The brightest is swimming in the night sea. When warm waves envelop bodies, when the stars s...
Canvas, Oil
Early Bird, Oil Painting
Located in San Francisco, CA
Artist Comments
Sometimes, when painting a New York cityscape at sunrise, an artist takes liberties. They turn gray buildings blue, the blue sky gray, or replace the expected. ...
Oil
Beyond Reach
Located in Zofingen, AG
Beyond Reach From the series «1000 and 1 Night» In this work, love unfolds as a form of invisible closeness — a presence without touch. The space between two people is not empty; ...
Canvas, Acrylic
"Interieur Nocturne" Eugene Berman, Surrealist, Figure in Bed, Dark Red Interior
Located in New York, NY
Eugene Berman Interieur Nocturne, 1929-1930 Signed and dated lower right, inscribed on verso Oil on canvas 21 1/2 x 25 3/4 inches From Russia, Eugene Berman became a painter known ...
Canvas, Oil
The Attic - Modern Surrealistic Oil Painting
Located in Hallein, AT
Pawel Sepielak is a Polish painter, book illustrator and printmaker.
Canvas, Oil
Water Town, Oil Painting
Located in San Francisco, CA
Artist Comments
The painting embraces modernist sensibilities with a surrealist touch, challenging conventional rules of depth and perspective. It distills the vibrant canal vi...
Oil
I was offended.
Located in Zofingen, AG
She is offended. And no gifts, champagne or words will melt this ice. What did her Man do - we can only guess. May be he forget about the anniversary, bought the wrong flowers, cheat...
Canvas, Oil
"Smoking Lady" (2024) By Nadezda, Original Oil Painting on Panel
By Nadezda
Located in Denver, CO
Nadezda's beautiful new oil on panel painting "Smoking Lady" (2024) is an abstract portrait of a woman wearing a black dress smoking inside of her brightly colored house, she is stan...
Oil, Panel
$2,500
An Abstract, Surrealist 1950s Mid-Century Modern Interior Still Life Painting
Located in Chicago, IL
A Visually Striking, early 1950s Abstract, Surrealist Mid-Century Modern Still Life Painting by Notable Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). Depicting a subdued, tonal int...
Masonite, Oil
$1,920Sale Price|20% Off
Roger Bonafé Modern Still Life with Hat Bottle and Flower Oil Pastel 1981
By Roger Bonafe
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Title Roger Bonafé Modern Still Life with Hat Bottle and Flower Oil Pastel 1981 Key Details Artist: Roger Bonafé (French, b.1932), signed and dated 1981 Medium: Oil pastel on thick ...
Oil Pastel
Homage to Dali, Large Original Painting on Canvas, Surrealist, Hand Signed
By Ferjo, Fernando de Jesus Oliveira
Located in Aventura, FL
Original oil painting on canvas. Hand signed lower front by Ferjo. Canvas image size 36 x 48 x 1 inches. Canvas is stretched. Artwork is in excellent condition. Certificate of au...
Canvas, Oil
$1,180Sale Price|20% Off
Vintage American Modernist Trompe L'Oeil Surreal Still Life Exhibited Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Amazing American modernist still life oil painting by Adrian Martinez (Born 1949) . Oil on canvas. Exhibited.
Canvas, Oil
"Siren in Green Gold" (2024) Original Oil Painting on Panel
By Nadezda
Located in Denver, CO
Nadezda's beautiful handmade oil on panel painting "Night Swim" (2024) is a portrait of a woman dressed in an intricate green-gold outfit, donning a headdress and resting in a conten...
Oil, Panel
"Something in the Way" (2024) By Nadezda, Original Oil Painting on Panel
By Nadezda
Located in Denver, CO
Nadezda's beautiful new oil on panel painting "Something in the Way" (2024) is a surreal portrait of a man stuck in a slouched position with his arms over a bar and his head undernea...
Oil, Panel
$8,306Sale Price|20% Off
Surrealism Acrylic on canvas “Checkerboard Landscape” Andrés Segovia, Argentina
Located in Valladolid, ES
One of a kind work or art with a unique, somber, and overwhelming atmosphere. It recalls the legacy of the great Giorgio De Chirico (1888-1978), the foremost representative of the ...
Canvas
Homage To Disney, Large Original Painting on Canvas, Hand Signed, Mickey Minnie
By Ferjo, Fernando de Jesus Oliveira
Located in Aventura, FL
Original oil painting on canvas. Hand signed lower front by Ferjo. Canvas image size 30 x 40 x 1 inches. Canvas is stretched. Artwork is in excellent condition. Certificate of au...
Canvas, Oil
Small Box / - Human society -
Located in Berlin, DE
Alla Victorovna Kraschina-Shadov (*1958), Small Box, 1999. Oil on canvas, 59 cm x 59 cm (image size), 63 cm x 63 cm (frame), monogrammed and dated 1999 on the lower right, also signe...
Oil
$3,160Sale Price|20% Off
'Story Time', Paris, Salon d'Automne, New York, ASL, Corcoran, PAFA, Art Deco
By Nura Ulreich
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Signed lower left 'Nura' for Nura Woodson Ulreich (American, 1899–1950). Additionally signed, verso, dated March 1928 with artist's New York City address and titled, 'When Guest Stay...
Oil, Illustration Board
Homage to Chagall, Huge Original Painting on Canvas, Hand Signed, Surrealism
By Ferjo, Fernando de Jesus Oliveira
Located in Aventura, FL
Original oil painting on canvas. Hand signed lower front by Ferjo. Canvas image size 60 x 48 inches. Canvas is not stretched. Artwork is in excellent condition. Certificate of au...
Canvas, Oil
Grand Window, Huge Original Painting on Canvas, Signed, Surrealism, 70 x 50 in.
By Ferjo, Fernando de Jesus Oliveira
Located in Aventura, FL
Original oil painting on canvas. Hand signed lower front by Ferjo. Canvas image size 70 x 50 inches. Canvas is not stretched. Artwork is in excellent condition. Certificate of au...
Canvas, Oil
Indoor Cloud, Oil Painting
Located in San Francisco, CA
Artist Comments
This oil painting transforms a restaurant's holiday ceiling decoration into something realistic and surreal. It captures the memory of a special evening while...
Oil
Gleaning, Oil Painting
Located in San Francisco, CA
Artist Comments
Part of artist Michael Wedge's series exploring the contrasts between various periods with urban scenes and rural environments. This piece shows two figures g...
Oil
$2,196Sale Price|20% Off
The Chair by the Window, Superb Large Surrealist oil painting on canvas
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
The Chair by the Window Surrealist School, circa 1970's signed lower left, indistinctly (see photos) framed: 24 x 30.5 inches provenance: private collection, London Superb Surreali...
Canvas, Oil
BREEZINESS. Original Painting by Stasy Vo
By Stasy Vo
Located in Zofingen, AG
Imagine the warm smell of summer. Here you go to the park in a high mood. And there everything is in bloom, there are lovely flowers spread in the field, the sun is pleasantly warmin...
Canvas, Acrylic
Tangent - Surreal Still Life - Coffee Table Setting, Oil on Panel
By John Hrehov
Located in Chicago, IL
This painting is John Hrehov’s Tangent, an oil on panel from 2025. In it, a modern red sofa runs straight across the back of the room, set against a grid of tall windows that open on...
Canvas, Oil, Panel
"Nightfall, " Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Sara Scribner's (US based) "Nightfall" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts a realistic portrait of a feminine form in blue cradling a smal...
Oil, Panel
Transplanting
Located in San Francisco, CA
Artist Comments
I used the activity of transplanting tree saplings as a way to connect the city and the country in this painting. I'm interested in surreal scenes where peopl...
Oil
Homage to Pop Art Diptych, Original Oil Painting on Canvas, 48x72 in
By Ferjo, Fernando de Jesus Oliveira
Located in Aventura, FL
Original oil painting on canvas. Both canvases are hand signed on front by Ferjo. Total Image size: 48 x 72 inches (each canvas is 48 x 36 inches). Canvases are not stretched. Art...
Canvas, Oil
Tempest - Symbolist Still Life with Maritime Imagery - Oil on Panel
By John Hrehov
Located in Chicago, IL
John Hrehov’s Tempest: a large cobalt-blue vase bearing the image of a Baltimore clipper, encircled by sunflowers. Hrehov calls his approach “allegorical realism”: precisely rendered...
Canvas, Oil, Panel
$270Sale Price|20% Off
Peach Still Life Oil Painting Pink Fruit Symbolic Figurative Kitchen Wall Art
Located in FISTERRA, ES
Peach still life oil painting with symbolic fruit imagery, soft pink tones and subtle surrealist undertones. Your Peaches is a small-scale oil painting by Inés Silvalde that reinter...
Canvas, Oil
Israeli Kibbutz Artist Judaica Shul Torah Ark Surrealist Gouache Painting
By Leo Roth
Located in Surfside, FL
Leo Roth (1914–2002), also known as Lior Roth, was an Israeli painter, born in 1914 in Austria-Hungary. (later Poland) In 1920, Roth moved to Germany and, in 1933, immigrated to Pal...
Paper, Gouache
$750
"Toulouse Canal de Brienne Bridge" (2024) By Christopher Clark, Oil & Acrylic
Located in Denver, CO
Christopher Clark's "Toulouse Canal de Brienne Bridge" is an original, handmade oil & acrylic painting that depicts an abstracted landscape with a small bridge going over a river sur...
Oil, Acrylic, Wood Panel
Tribute to Haring, Surrealist Oil Painting on Canvas, 21st Century
By Ferjo, Fernando de Jesus Oliveira
Located in Aventura, FL
Original oil painting on canvas. Hand signed lower front by Ferjo. Canvas image size 20 x 24 x 1 inches. Canvas is stretched. Artwork is in excellent condition. Certificate of au...
Canvas, Oil
Blue Corner, Surrealist Oil Painting on Canvas by Richard Hagerty
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Richard Hagerty, American (1950 - ) Title: Blue Corner Year: circa 1980 Medium: Oil on Canvas, signed l.r. Size: 40 x 55 in. (101.6 x 139.7 cm)
Canvas, Oil