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Surrealist Art

SURREALIST STYLE

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.

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Style: Surrealist
Piano surréaliste, Salvador Dali
Piano surréaliste, Salvador Dali

Piano surréaliste, Salvador Dali

By Salvador Dalí­

Located in Fairfield, CT

Artist: Salvador Dali (1904-1989) Title: Piano surréaliste Year: 1984 Medium: Bronze Edition: 350, plus proofs Size: 26.3 x 15.7 x 12 inches Condition: Excellent Inscription: Incised...

Category

1980s Surrealist Art

Materials

Bronze

Dessert Landscape (Comanche Native American surrealist painting)
Dessert Landscape (Comanche Native American surrealist painting)

Dessert Landscape (Comanche Native American surrealist painting)

Located in Wilton Manors, FL

Dessert Landscape, ca. 1975-80. Gouache on Arches rag paper, Sheet measures 23 x 30 inches. Image measures 22 x 29 inches. Signed lower left. Excellent condition. Unframed.

Category

1970s Surrealist Art

Materials

Gouache, Rag Paper

"Recall, " Oil Painting
"Recall, " Oil Painting

"Recall, " Oil Painting

Located in Denver, CO

Alla Bartoshchuk's "Recall" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts a nude female figure in the company of laughing blue and purple women, wher...

Category

2010s Surrealist Art

Materials

Oil, Panel

Alice in Wonderland
Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland

By Salvador Dalí­

Located in Hollywood, FL

ARTIST: Salvador Dali TITLE: Alice in Wonderland MEDIUM: Etching SIGNED: Hand Signed PUBLISHER: Transworld Art EDITION NUMBER: A IX/XL PAPER: Japon Paper MEASUREMENTS: 29.75"...

Category

1970s Surrealist Art

Materials

Etching

Plate VI, Le Cocu Magnifique
Plate VI, Le Cocu Magnifique

Plate VI, Le Cocu Magnifique

By Pablo Picasso

Located in Fairlawn, OH

Plate VI, Le Cocu Magnifique etching & aquatint, 1968 Unsigned as usual From the unsigned edition of 200 impressions printed on Rives BFK paper There is also a signed edition of 30 i...

Category

1960s Surrealist Art

Materials

Etching, Aquatint

Hebru Brantley Gaia (Hebru Brantley Lil Mama as Gaia)
Hebru Brantley Gaia (Hebru Brantley Lil Mama as Gaia)

Hebru Brantley Gaia (Hebru Brantley Lil Mama as Gaia)

By Hebru Brantley

Located in NEW YORK, NY

Hebru Brantley GAIA (Hebru Brantley Lil Mama as Gaia): Hebru Brantley’s ethereal art toy features his much iconic, Lil Mama character as Gaia, the fabled personification of Mother E...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Art

Materials

Vinyl

Rene Magritte, The Beautiful Captive, 1968 (after)
Rene Magritte, The Beautiful Captive, 1968 (after)

Rene Magritte, The Beautiful Captive, 1968 (after)

By René Magritte

Located in Southampton, NY

This exquisite lithograph after Rene Magritte (1898–1967), titled La Belle Captive (The Beautiful Captive), from the folio Les Enfants Trouves de Magritte (The Found Children of Magritte), 1968, originates from the edition published by A.C. Mazo et Cie, Paris, and printed by Mourlot Freres, Paris, on November 20, 1968. The work embodies Magrittes sustained inquiry into semiotics and visual epistemology, translating his characteristic strategies of displacement, symbolic inversion, and conceptual ambiguity into an image that operates as both a poetic metaphor and a philosophical proposition concerning the instability of meaning. Executed as a lithograph on grand velin dArches paper, this work measures 17.5 x 23.5 inches (44.5 x 59.7 cm). Signed in the plate by the artist; hand signed by Fernand Mourlot, Editeur. The edition exemplifies the technical mastery of the Mourlot atelier. Artwork Details: Artist: After Rene Magritte (1898–1967) Title: La Belle Captive (The Beautiful Captive), from the folio Les Enfants Trouves de Magritte (The Found Children of Magritte) Medium: Lithograph on grand velin dArches paper Dimensions: 17.5 x 23.5 inches (44.5 x 59.7 cm) Inscription: Signed in the plate by the artist; hand signed by Fernand Mourlot, Editeur Date: 1968 Publisher: A.C. Mazo et Cie, Paris Printer: Mourlot Freres, Paris Catalogue Raisonne: Magritte, Rene, et al. Rene Magritte: Catalogue Raisonne, Vol. 3. Menil Foundation; Philip Wilson Publishers; Distributed in the USA and Canada by Rizzoli International, 1992, nos. 791–792 and 1056; vol. 5, p. 218, Bibliography entry 68.28. Condition: Well preserved, consistent with age and medium Provenance: From the folio Les Enfants Trouves de Magritte, 1968 Notes: Excerpted from the folio (translated from French), Finished printing in Paris on November 20, 1968, on the presses of Mourlot, for the lithographs. The unpublished text by Louis Scutenaire was composed in Elzevir Casion corps 28 and printed by Fequet et Baudier, typographers. The unpublished compositions numbered from I to IV were specially made by Rene Magritte for this album. The compositions of the Enchanted Domain, are the renderings of the eight paintings of the mural of the Casino de Knokke. They were printed with the benevolent authorization of Mr. Gustave J. Nellens. Justification of the draw, this album was taken from CCCL examples on grand velin dArches numbered from I to CCCL, plus a few examples for collaborators and assistants. About the Publication: Les Enfants Trouves de Magritte (The Found Children of Magritte), published in 1968 by A.C. Mazo et Cie, Paris, represents one of the most significant late life print projects devoted to Rene Magrittes work. Conceived as both a literary and visual tribute, the folio pairs texts by the Belgian writer Louis Scutenaire, Magrittes close friend and fellow Surrealist, with lithographic interpretations produced at the Mourlot atelier, the premier lithographic workshop of twentieth century France. The album includes compositions by Magritte alongside lithographic renderings of the celebrated Enchanted Domain mural from the Casino de Knokke, printed with the authorization of Gustave J. Nellens, who commissioned the original mural. Issued in a single edition of CCCL examples on grand velin dArches, the folio stands as a testament to the collaboration between artist, writer, publisher, and master printer, and remains one of the most culturally important Surrealist print albums of the post war era. About the Artist: Rene Magritte (1898–1967) was a Belgian Surrealist painter whose visionary, intellectual, and poetic imagery redefined twentieth century art and forever changed how the world perceives reality and illusion. Celebrated for his calm precision and thought provoking juxtapositions of ordinary objects in extraordinary contexts, Magritte used painting as a philosophical tool, transforming the everyday into visual paradoxes that challenged the boundaries between what is seen and what is known. Born in Lessines, Belgium, and trained at the Academie Royale des Beaux Arts in Brussels, he absorbed early influences from Cubism, Futurism, and Symbolism before embracing Surrealism, where he found his true voice. In Paris, he became part of the avant garde circle that included Pablo Picasso, Alexander Calder, Alberto Giacometti, Salvador Dali, Joan Miro, Wassily Kandinsky, Marcel Duchamp, and Man Ray—all artists whose radical ideas helped him forge his distinctive synthesis of logic and mystery. Unlike Dalis dream...

Category

1960s Surrealist Art

Materials

Lithograph

Raccoon (Comanche Native American surrealist painting)
Raccoon (Comanche Native American surrealist painting)

Raccoon (Comanche Native American surrealist painting)

Located in Wilton Manors, FL

Raccoon Watching Fish, ca. 1975-80. Gouache on Arches rag paper, Sheet measures 23 x 30 inches. Image measures 22 x 29 inches. Signed lower left. Excellent condition. Unframed.

Category

1970s Surrealist Art

Materials

Gouache, Rag Paper

Max Ernst Dada Surrealist Hand Signed Lithograph Poster for a Jewish Museum
Max Ernst Dada Surrealist Hand Signed Lithograph Poster for a Jewish Museum

Max Ernst Dada Surrealist Hand Signed Lithograph Poster for a Jewish Museum

By Max Ernst

Located in Surfside, FL

Max Ernst (German, American, 1891-1976) Color lithograph Titled, "Poster For The Jewish Museum" 1966 Hand signed lower right Hand numbered HC I/XVII Dimensions: 34.75 x 28.5 sight 25 X 19.25 Max Ernst (German 1891 – 1976) was a German-born painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and surrealism in Europe. He had no formal artistic training, but his experimental attitude toward the making of art resulted in his invention of frottage—a technique that uses pencil rubbings of textured objects and relief surfaces to create images—and grattage, an analogous technique in which paint is scraped across canvas to reveal the imprints of the objects placed beneath. Max Ernst showed for the first time in 1912 at the Galerie Feldman in Cologne. At the Sonderbund exhibition of that year in Cologne he saw the work of Paul Cezanne, Edvard Munch, Pablo Picasso, Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh. In 1913 he met Guillaume Apollinaire and Robert Delaunay and traveled to Paris. Ernst participated that same year in the Erste deutsche Herbstsalon. In 1914 he met Jean Arp in Cologne who was to become a lifelong friend. In 1921 Ernst exhibited at the Galerie au Sans Pareil in Paris. He was involved in Surrealist activities in the early 1920s with Paul Eluard and André Breton. His work was exhibited that year together with that of the Das Junge Rheinland group, at Galerie Feldman in Cologne, and then in several group exhibitions in 1913. In his paintings of this period, Ernst adopted an ironic style that juxtaposed grotesque elements alongside Cubist and Expressionist motifs. Ernst fought in world war I. Several German Expressionist painters died in action during the war, among them August Macke and Franz Marc. In 1918, Ernst was demobilised and returned to Cologne. He soon married art history student Luise Straus, of Jewish ancestry, whom he had met in 1914. In 1919, he visited Paul Klee in Munich and studied paintings by Giorgio de Chirico. In the same year, inspired by de Chirico and mail-order catalogues, teaching-aide manuals and similar sources, he produced his first collage works (notably Fiat modes, a portfolio of lithographs), a technique which later dominated his artistic pursuits. Also in 1919, Ernst, social activist Johannes Theodor Baargeld and several colleagues founded the Cologne Dada group. In 1919–20, Ernst and Baargeld published various short-lived magazines such as Der Strom, die Schammade and organised Dada exhibitions. Ernst and Luise's son Ulrich Jimmy Ernst was born on 24 June 1920; he later would also become a painter. In 1921, he met Paul Éluard, who became a lifelong friend. Éluard bought two of Ernst's paintings (Celebes and Oedipus Rex) and selected six collages to illustrate his poetry collection Répétitions. A year later the two collaborated on Les malheurs des immortels and then with André Breton, whom Ernst met in 1921, on the magazine Littérature. Ernst developed a fascination with birds which was prevalent in his work. His alter ego in paintings, which he called Loplop, was a bird. He suggested that this alter-ego was an extension of himself stemming from an early confusion of birds and humans. In 1927, he married Marie-Berthe Aurenche and it is thought his relationship with her may have inspired the erotic subject matter of The Kiss and other works of that year. He collaborated with Joan Miro on designs for Sergei Diaghilev Ballet that same year. The following year the artist collaborated with Salvador Dali and the Surrealist Luis Bunuel on the film L'Age d'or. His first American show was held at the Julien Levy Gallery, New York, in 1932. In 1936 Ernst was represented in Fantastic Art, Dada, Surrealism at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Ernst began to sculpt in 1934 and spent time with Alberto Giacometti. In 1938, the American heiress and artistic patron Peggy Guggenheim acquired a number of Max Ernst's works, which she displayed in her new gallery in London. Ernst and Guggenheim were married from 1942 to 1946. In September 1939, the outbreak of World War II caused Ernst, being German, to be interned as an "undesirable foreigner" in Camp des Milles, near Aix-en-Provence, along with fellow surrealist, Hans Bellmer, who had recently emigrated to Paris. He had been living with his lover and fellow surrealist painter, Leonora Carrington who, not knowing whether he would return, saw no option but to sell their house to repay their debts and leave for Spain. Thanks to the intercession of Paul Éluard and other friends, including the journalist Varian Fry, he was released a few weeks later. Soon after the German occupation of France, he was arrested again, this time by the Gestapo, but managed to escape to America with the help of Fry and Peggy Guggenheim, a member of a wealthy American art collecting family. Ernst and Peggy Guggenheim arrived in the United States in 1941 and were married at the end of the year. Along with other artists and friends (Marcel Duchamp and Marc Chagall) who had fled from the war and lived in New York City, Ernst helped inspire the development of abstract expressionism. His marriage to Guggenheim did not last. In October 1946 he married American surrealist painter Dorothea Tanning in a double ceremony with Man Ray and Juliet P. Browner in Beverly Hills, California. The couple made their home in Sedona, Arizona from 1946 to 1953. He and Tanning hosted intellectuals and European artists such as Henri Cartier-Bresson and Yves Tanguy. Sedona proved an inspiration for the artists and for Ernst, who compiled his book Beyond Painting and completed his sculptural masterpiece Capricorn while living in Sedona. As a result of the book and its publicity, Ernst began to achieve financial success. From the 1950s he lived mainly in France. In 1954 he was awarded the Grand Prize for painting at the Venice Biennale. In 2005, "Max Ernst: A Retrospective" opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Contemporary artist tapestries have had their true believers. He produced a tapestry for Gloria Ross...

Category

1960s Surrealist Art

Materials

Lithograph

Armando Villagran Original Painting
Armando Villagran Original Painting

Armando Villagran Original Painting

By Armando Villagran

Located in San Francisco, CA

Armando Villagran (Mexican, 1945-1995) Untitled (Figure with Animal), 1991 Oil on canvas, signed and dated lower right Canvas: 55"h x 43.5"w, overall (with frame): 56"h x 44"w Born ...

Category

1990s Surrealist Art

Materials

Oil

Lono's Fighting Chair
Lono's Fighting Chair

Lono's Fighting Chair

By Ralph Steadman

Located in Hollywood, FL

Artist: Ralph Steadman Title: Lono's Fighting Chair Medium: One color silkscreen on White Rising Stonehenge Deckle Edge Paper Size: 22 x 30 Inches Edition: of 250 Year: 2006 Notes: ...

Category

Early 2000s Surrealist Art

Materials

Screen

Pablo Picasso, "Face Turned Pitcher, " ceramic
Pablo Picasso, "Face Turned Pitcher, " ceramic

Pablo Picasso, "Face Turned Pitcher, " ceramic

By Pablo Picasso

Located in Chatsworth, CA

This piece is an A.R. turned pitcher created by Pablo Picasso in 1955. It is made with white earthenware clay, decoration in engobes in red and black with glaze inside. It bears the ...

Category

1950s Surrealist Art

Materials

Clay

"Night Swim" (2024) Original Oil Painting on Panel
"Night Swim" (2024) Original Oil Painting on Panel

"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. ...

Category

2010s Surrealist Art

Materials

Oil, Panel

Centre Noeuds (Sabatier 393), Roberto Matta
Centre Noeuds (Sabatier 393), Roberto Matta

Centre Noeuds (Sabatier 393), Roberto Matta

By Roberto Matta

Located in Fairfield, CT

Artist: Roberto Matta (1912-2002) Title: Centre Noeuds (Sabatier 393) Year: 1974 Edition: 38/125, plus proofs Medium: Etching on Arches paper Size: 23.875 x 17.5 inches Inscription: ...

Category

1970s Surrealist Art

Materials

Etching

Tomano Monote (Cupcake Boy)
Tomano Monote (Cupcake Boy)

Tomano Monote (Cupcake Boy)

By Alejandro Colunga

Located in Palm Springs, CA

Alejandro Colunga is a renowned Mexican artist born in 1948 in Guadalajara, Jalisco. He is part of the Nueva Mexicanidad movement and is celebrated for his surrealist and fantastical...

Category

1990s Surrealist Art

Materials

Etching, Aquatint, Gouache

Joan Miro, Untitled, from Sculptures of Miro, 1973
Joan Miro, Untitled, from Sculptures of Miro, 1973

Joan Miro, Untitled, from Sculptures of Miro, 1973

By Joan Miró

Located in Southampton, NY

This exquisite lithograph by Joan Miro (1893–1983), titled Sans titre (Untitled), originates from the 1973 album Sculptures de Miro, Ceramiques de Miro, et Llorens Artigas (Sculpture...

Category

1970s Surrealist Art

Materials

Lithograph

Resistance of the earth
Resistance of the earth

Resistance of the earth

By Tetiana Borys

Located in Zofingen, AG

This painting belongs to the series of paintings "Blue." Long before 2022, a process of spiritual transformation took place in my life, in particular, a rethinking of the feminine pr...

Category

2010s Surrealist Art

Materials

Acrylic, Archival Paper

The Pearl Necklace Story II - Surrealist Figurative Feminine Framed Portrait
The Pearl Necklace Story II - Surrealist Figurative Feminine Framed Portrait

The Pearl Necklace Story II - Surrealist Figurative Feminine Framed Portrait

By Carlos Gamez de Francisco

Located in Los Angeles, CA

The figurative surrealistic paintings of Carlos Gamez de Francisco are heavily influenced by his Cuban upbringing in a Russian-governed academic setting. This presence exposed Franci...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Art

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Untitled (Surrealist Composiition)
Untitled (Surrealist Composiition)

Untitled (Surrealist Composiition)

By Julio de Diego

Located in Fairlawn, OH

Untitled (Surrealist Composiition) Lithograph with hand coloring, 1945 Signed and dated lower right (see photo) Numbered 10/12 lower left (see photo) fragment from 6X litho In 1945, ...

Category

1940s Surrealist Art

Materials

Lithograph

Untitled
Untitled

Untitled

By Wifredo Lam

Located in Long Island City, NY

Artist: Wifredo Lam, Cuban (1902 - 1982) Title: Untitled - I Year: 1957 Medium: Crayon and Pastel on Paper, signed and dated l.r. Paper Size: 22 in. x 26.5 in. (55.88 cm x 67.31...

Category

1950s Surrealist Art

Materials

Paper, Crayon, Pastel

Acrobat, Surrealist Etching by James Kearns
Acrobat, Surrealist Etching by James Kearns

Acrobat, Surrealist Etching by James Kearns

By James Kearns

Located in Long Island City, NY

James Kearns, American (1924 - ) - Acrobat, Year: circa 1975, Medium: Etching on Rives, signed, titled and numbered, Edition: 44/50, Image Size: 14.5 x 8.75 inches, Size: 22 x 15 i...

Category

1970s Surrealist Art

Materials

Etching

TIE Fighter Beatles Pop Art Print, Signed Limited Edition, 40x30 in
TIE Fighter Beatles Pop Art Print, Signed Limited Edition, 40x30 in

TIE Fighter Beatles Pop Art Print, Signed Limited Edition, 40x30 in

By BATIK

Located in London, GB

TIE Fighter Beatles by B A T I K Pop art work featuring the Fab Four Paul McCartney , George Harrison, Ringo Starr and John Lennon running away from Star Wars TIE fighters chasing...

Category

2010s Surrealist Art

Materials

Black and White, Archival Pigment

Surrealist art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Surrealist art available for sale on 1stDibs. Works in this style were very popular during the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artists have continued to produce works inspired by this movement. If you’re looking to add art created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of blue, orange, purple, red and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Salvador Dalí, Marc Chagall, Joan Miró, and Leonor Fini. Frequently made by artists working with Paint, and Lithograph and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large Surrealist art, so small editions measuring 1 inches across are also available. Prices for art made by famous or emerging artists can differ depending on medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $1 and tops out at $1,450,000, while the average work sells for $1,426.