Surrealist Paintings
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
The Winds of Change, Painting, Acrylic on Canvas
By Brent Hanson
Located in Yardley, PA
Original acrylic triptych (three canvases 36x36 each) varnished for protection, sides painted black, and wired for hanging. Entire piece is 36x108x1....
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Carnival
1
, Painting, Acrylic on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
This Art work is about the Carnival festival. The colours used,the costume,the scenery all add up to explain what Carnival is about.A celebration of joy,merrymaking.A time to bring t...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Tree, Painting, Acrylic on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
Acrylics on stretched canvas. :: Painting :: Surrealism :: This piece comes with an official certificate of authenticity signed by the artist :: Ready to Hang: Yes :: Signed: Yes ::...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
With My Eyes on Your Horizon
Located in Sag Harbor, NY
Artist Statement:
This painting is the result of the situation my birth country Venezuela is in at the moment. A couple of months ago I started to feel very anxious about my country,...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Linen, Oil
"Minimalism" - surrealist still life, flowers, cat, apple, bird
By Guy Robinson
Located in Atlanta, GA
This painting features hues of green, purple, blue, red, and yellow.
This surrealist still life features a cat, vegetables, flowers, pastries, a bird and patterns.
Guy Robinson is i...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Linen, Oil
The Beach at Noon, Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
The beach can be a surreal place where rock formations can create fantastic shapes such as I saw at the Cote de Granite Rose in Brittany. :: Painting :: Surrealism :: This piece com...
Category
Early 2000s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Mother Earth "Sicilian Landscape II "
Located in Miami, FL
Eugene Berman is a keen observer of his surroundings but never translates his vision in a literal way. In "Sicilian Landscape," the artist transfor...
Category
1960s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
$20,800 Sale Price
25% Off
Arigato Diptych Acrylic on Canvas
Located in Lake Worth Beach, FL
Arigato diptych, acrylic on canvas.
Malgosia Kiernozycka was born in Wroclaw, Poland. She graduated high school at the School of Fine Arts and received a scholarship from the Min...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Acrylic
Glass Houses (Right)
Located in Greenwich, CT
Glass Houses (Right) is an acrylic on canvas painting, with a canvas size of 30 x 48 inches, signed 'afn' lower right and framed in a contemporary black moulding.
Anne Faith...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Acrylic
Bon Voyage (Paper Planes)
Located in Greenwich, CT
Bon Voyage (Paper Planes) is a mixed media painting (acrylic, gold enamel, charcoal, pencil and ink on archival cotton paper, signed 'afn' lower right and framed in a contemporary black moulding.
Anne...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Enamel
French Contemporary Art By Helen Uter - Chiens N.2
By Helen Uter
Located in Paris, IDF
Oil on canvas
Helen Uter is an established Franco-American painter born in 1955 who lives and works in Donnery, near Orléans, France. Heavily influenced by Edward Hopper, she creat...
Category
1990s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Street, Painting, Oil on Canvas
By Janos Kujbus
Located in Yardley, PA
Original work - big painting in contemporary pop art style from hungarian artist Janos Kujbus. Story about painting: "The street is one big stage where endless stories of people take place. The people themselves are the screenwriters, directors and actors of this never-ending performance. Every day we meet a lot of people on the street ... Some seem mundane to us, others weird and some seem too weird to us ... Like in this painting ... Who knows what really happens between these weird characters? What is this story about them captured by the artist's brush on the canvas? Research and then maybe you will find the answers ..." Despite the fact that Janos Kujbus belongs to the younger generation of Hungarian fine artists, we can rightly place his work among the top works of contemporary European art. His figurative paintings in the style of modern pop art amaze not only their size (often exceeding two meters), but also the peculiarities of their form and content. On the big canvases...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Surreal Collage:
Happy Valley
Located in New York, NY
Barnett, a surrealist artist incorporates discarded mechanical objects and gadgets into his artwork. His work is characterized by its unique and ecl...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Mixed Media
"Easter" - surrealist still life, objects, flowers, egg, colorful, patterns
By Guy Robinson
Located in Atlanta, GA
This painting features hues of green, purple and blue.
This surrealist still life features flowers and an egg.
Guy Robinson is inspired by the work of Paul Klee, Albrecht Durer and ...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Linen, Oil
Bossa Nova, Surreal painting oil on canvas, sepia, brown and white shades
Located in Miami, FL
Professionally known as Vignoli, was a Brazilian painter and sculptor. He began his career in 1982 creating canvases in oil on canvas, where he applies his own technique, which, acco...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
34 Things I Love About You (and a trust fall), Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
The work addresses internal conversations, especially involving love and intimacy. By using domestic objects such as chairs the imagery interrogates the architecture of the psyche an...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Romantic Energy, Painting, Oil on Canvas
By Amelia Galli
Located in Yardley, PA
In the platforms of the future, poetry takes over. Light, energy, warmth but with romance. So that these metal monsters in the middle of the sea, become a destination for poets and "...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Figure with Magnolia, Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
When the magnolia trees bloom, I want to become one with the tree, the blossoms, and the scent, With this painting, I wanted to communicate that yearning. I painted this by first pai...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
In the Right Place, Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
This painting was selected to be part of "2019 People's Gallery" at Austin City Hall! About this painting: I am fascinated by nature. I believe that we are all connected with nat...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
New Order, Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
The sides of this canvas were painted so there is no need for a frame. It's ready to hang! Thank you for looking at my art. :: Painting :: Surrealism :: This piece comes with an off...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
French Neo-Romantic Surrealist Painting "Circus" by Kristians Tonny
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Kristians Tonny
(French, born Holland; 1907-1977)
Circus
Oil on prepared board, 16 1/2 x 13 inches
Framed: 22 x 19 inches (approx.)
Inscribed on reverse: (in pencil) "cadre noir/ave...
Category
1920s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Board
Sunrise, Painting, Oil on Canvas
By Slav Nedev
Located in Yardley, PA
A work (#4) from the ELEMENTS series Why did I call this series elements? Because there is air in it, there is water, there are earth and fire… There are birth, life and death, ...
Category
Early 2000s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Modern times, Painting, Oil on Canvas
By Asher Topel
Located in Yardley, PA
The advancement of technology changes the map of people's professions and sources of livelihood, will result in the disappearance of many professions and will require high specializa...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
"Flora #12" - Geometric Surrealist Painting - Nude - Arcimboldo
By Guy Robinson
Located in Atlanta, GA
"Flora #12" is one in a series of surreal paintings of the female figure featuring intricate patterning and hues of blue, pink, orange, green and white.
Guy Robinson is inspired by t...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Linen, Oil
Post-urban Vision No. 1, Painting, Oil on Canvas
By Slav Nedev
Located in Yardley, PA
A work from the Post-urban Visions series - a series that transcends the existence of today's highly urbanized industrial society and envisages a future (post-urban) state when the h...
Category
Early 2000s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Lili Ocean Part II
Located in Lake Worth Beach, FL
Lili Ocean Part 2 Pink Abstract.
Mixed media: acrylic, ink marker, pastel on paper, white frame under Plexiglas.
Malgosia Kiernozycka was born i...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Pastel, Ink, Mixed Media, Acrylic, Archival Paper
1975 Vintage Original Surrealist Still Life Tempera Painting - Grapes
Pears
Located in Bristol, GB
GRAPES & PEARS
Size: 28.5 x 34 cm (including frame)
Tempera on board
A brilliantly executed and charming surrealist still life composition, executed in tempera on board and dated 19...
Category
1970s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Tempera, Board
"Scarlet Ibis, Red Chair" Contemporary Surrealist Painting, red bird on chair
Located in New York, NY
A red ibis perches on a red armchair in this contemporary surrealist painting by New York artist, Thomas Broadbent. The long legs of this water bird complement the design of the cha...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Watercolor, Archival Paper
Enigmas, Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
This painting continue the series of Oceans but incorporate some figures and silhouettes reflections making more complex the composition and the feelings behind the painting. Thank y...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Hull, Painting, Oil on Canvas
By Yotam Zohar
Located in Yardley, PA
A prototype for my "Frontier Project", this painting depicts an astronaut spray-painting a tag on the side of a module of the International Space Station bearing Blackbeard's pirate flag...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Something in the Water, Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
"Something in the Water" Large oil painting on white square stretched canvas, gallery wrapped with white edges. :: Painting :: Surrealism :: This piece comes with an official certifi...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
1980 Mid Century Modern Swedish Mini Still Life Tempera Painting - Lemon
Pears
Located in Bristol, GB
LEMON & PEARS
Size: 34 x 39 cm (including frame)
Tempera on board
A brilliantly executed and characterful surrealist still life composition, executed in tempera on board and dated 1...
Category
Mid-20th Century Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Tempera, Board
"Alas, Again (Self Portrait in Absentia)" - surrealist portriat, bird, pattern
By Guy Robinson
Located in Atlanta, GA
This painting features hues of green, purple and yellow.
Guy Robinson is inspired by the work of Paul Klee, Albrecht Durer and Giuseppe Arcimboldo.
Guy Robinson is an Atlanta-based...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Linen, Oil
"Self Portrait in Absentia 2" - surrealist portrait, flowers, patterns, paint
By Guy Robinson
Located in Atlanta, GA
This painting features hues of green, purple, blue, red, and yellow.
This surrealist portrait features a paint palette, glove, egg, paint tubes and fruit.
Guy Robinson is inspired ...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Linen, Oil
Ghost Tree
By Megan Frazer
Located in Boston, MA
Artist Commentary:
The intricate and complex branching patterns of a giant willow tree stand out in ghostly contrast to storm clouds in the background. A patch of illuminated sky in...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Acrylic, Wood Panel
Looking Out From Within: Buffalo
Located in Greenwich, CT
Looking Out from Within: Buffalo is a mixed media painting (acrylic and gold enamel on canvas) with a canvas size of 60 x 48 inches, signed 'afn' lower right, and framed in a contemporary white moulding.
Anne Faith...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Enamel
Face nº6
Located in CAMPO REAL, ES
The painting Face #6 offers a personalized interpretation of the figure of the Greek hero Achilles, known for his prominent role in the Trojan War and his depiction in Homer's Iliad....
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Linen, Oil, Wood Panel
$1,819 Sale Price
20% Off
The Garden Behind
Located in BARCELONA, ES
This painting represents the liberation of the self as the theater curtain begins to fade away, its grey color symbolizing the death of pretense.
It reflects the beauty of true human...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Surrealist Scene
Located in Saratoga Springs, NY
Signed lower right and dated 1930 lower left.
David Burliuk, celebrated as the “Father of Russian Futurism,” carried the radical energy of the early avant‑garde into his émigré year...
Category
1930s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
"Small Study in White 3" - surrealist still life, lace, skull, patterns, shell
By Guy Robinson
Located in Atlanta, GA
This painting features the colors of the rainbow as they appear in white objects.
Guy Robinson is inspired by the work of Paul Klee, Albrecht Durer and Giuseppe Arcimboldo.
Atlanta based artist Guy Robinson attended the Atlanta College Of Art on a Ford Foundation grant and has worked extensively in painting, sculpture, printmaking, and drawing. His surrealists works have been exhibited in numerous galleries and have a place in important collections including the Museum Of Contemporary Art, Georgia (MOCA,GA). Robinson has over thirty-five years experience teaching drawing and painting for Emory...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Linen, Oil
Bon Voyage
Located in Greenwich, CT
Bon Voyage is a mixed media painting (acrylic, gold enamel, charcoal, pencil and ink on archival cotton paper), with an image size of 14 x 10.5 inches, signed 'afn' lower right and framed in a contemporary black moulding.
Anne Faith...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Enamel
The Crying Seer
Located in Greenwich, CT
The Crying Seer is an acrylic on canvas painting with a canvas size of 60 x 48 inches, signed 'afn' lower center and framed in a contemporary black moulding.
Anne Faith...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Acrylic
"Small Study in White" - surrealist still life, lace, skull, patterns, shell
By Guy Robinson
Located in Atlanta, GA
This painting features the colors of the rainbow as they appear in white objects.
Guy Robinson is inspired by the work of Paul Klee, Albrecht Durer and Giuseppe Arcimboldo.
Atlanta based artist Guy Robinson attended the Atlanta College Of Art on a Ford Foundation grant and has worked extensively in painting, sculpture, printmaking, and drawing. His surrealists works have been exhibited in numerous galleries and have a place in important collections including the Museum Of Contemporary Art, Georgia (MOCA,GA). Robinson has over thirty-five years experience teaching drawing and painting for Emory...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Linen, Oil
Surreal Collage:
The Descendant
Located in New York, NY
Combining found elements with those fashioned by my own hand, my work encompasses two- and three-dimensional collage as well as sculptural objects. Infused with a rich sense of histo...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Mixed Media
Surreal Figurative Painting, "Energy" 2024
Located in San Diego, CA
This is an original Oil on Canvas figurative painting by Charlene Mosley. A cirtificate of authenticity will follow delivery. It is framed as pictured.
Charlene Mosley’s current wor...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
L
abbraccio, 2020
Located in Atlanta, GA
Gigino Falconi was born in Giulianova (Teramo) in 1933. He began painting at the age of sixteen, and in 1954 he obtained a Liceo Artistico of Pescara. During the early years of his career, Falconi began teaching and drawing at the middle school in his city, refining his technique by copying a thousand paintings and drawings, bringing himself to an understanding of the secrets of technique and color behind the Great Masters of every century.
In 1975 he abandoned teaching to devote himself entirely to painting. His method of working developed in pictorial cycles over the years in the most exposed and prestigious Italian galleries...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Surreal Collage:
Damselfly
Located in New York, NY
'Combining found elements with those fashioned by my own hand, my work encompasses two- and three-dimensional collage as well as sculptural objects. Infused with a rich sense of hist...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Mixed Media
Surreal Collage:
Arduous Journey
Located in New York, NY
Combining found elements with those fashioned by my own hand, my work encompasses two- and three-dimensional collage as well as sculptural objects. Infused with a rich sense of histo...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Mixed Media
We are all playing theater
Located in BARCELONA, ES
This painting explores how human conversations are like performing on a stage, with the curtains symbolizing the theater of life. The eyes in this case represent our constant search ...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Blue Heart with Sin
Located in PARIS, FR
Panchat Yodmanee-Ice (1993 - )
Blue Heart with Sin
Acrylique sur toile
97 x 130 cm 38.2 x 51.2 in.
2023
Born in 1993 in Nakornsrithammarat, Thailand, Panchat holds a B.F.A. from th...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
"Ladies at Tea, " Mixed Media Tile, 2007
Located in Chicago, IL
Liverpool-based artist Pauline Hughes takes a fluid approach to her ceramic practice, combining aspects of painting, collage, and printmaking into her w...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Ceramic, Paper, Acrylic
Tsunami II- surreal painting blue grey shades
Located in Miami, FL
Professionally known as Vignoli, was a Brazilian painter and sculptor. He began his career in 1982 creating canvases in oil on canvas, where he applies his own technique, which, according to him, allows a perfect balance in the distribution of the elements, leading the viewer to come across texture, plasticity and creation, in perfect harmony within the history of each painting. The style of Vignoli is a fusion between Surrealism and Expressionism, hence the declared influence by the Spanish master...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Today Happens Once by Lucas Aoki
Located in New York, NY
Archival Pigment print
Limited Edition of 25
18 x 24 inches
Signed and numbered by the artist
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Giclée
$281 Sale Price
25% Off
Musicians At a Party 2022 colorful Abstract oil on canvas ARMENIAN Artist VATCHE
Located in Rancho Santa Fe, CA
Musicians At a Party is a colorful, abstract, surrealist painting by Armenian artist, Vatche Geuvdjelian painted in 2022.
Artist’s Statement
“𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰�...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Cotton Canvas, Oil
Surrealistic Acrylic Landscape on Canvas "Moonstruck"
Located in Cape Town, ZA
A detailed realistic/surrealistic landscape acrylic painting on large scale stretched canvas.
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Acrylic
9b
By Leonor Fini
Located in Columbia, MO
Lithograph on washi paper
Exemplaire B/165
Leonor Fini was born in Argentina in 1907 but travelled and lived in Europe with her mother from a young age. By 1931, she was in Paris, i...
Category
1960s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Lithograph, Washi Paper
$1,920
1b
By Leonor Fini
Located in Columbia, MO
Lithograph on washi paper
Exemplaire B/165
Leonor Fini was born in Argentina in 1907 but travelled and lived in Europe with her mother from a young age. By 1931, she was in Paris, i...
Category
1960s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Lithograph, Washi Paper
$1,920
"Anatomy Lesson" - Geometric Surrealist Painting - Skull Still Life - Arcimboldo
By Guy Robinson
Located in Atlanta, GA
"Anatomy Lesson" features hues of blue, pink, yellow, orange, green, and white.
Guy Robinson is inspired by the work of Paul Klee, Albrecht Durer and Gi...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Linen, Oil
Impossible Walls, Original Contemporary Surrealist Blue Oil Painting
Located in Boston, MA
Impossible Walls, Original Contemporary Surrealist Blue Painting, 2022
24" x 30" x 1.65" (HxWxD) Oil on Canvas
Like the Penrose stairs and M.C. Escher's Relativity, artist Marlene Llanes...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
"Urbane Profile, " Mixed-Media Tile, 2007
Located in Chicago, IL
Liverpool-based artist Pauline Hughes takes a fluid approach to her ceramic practice, integrating techniques of painting, collage, and printmaking into ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Ceramic, Paper, Acrylic
Surrealist paintings for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Surrealist paintings 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 paintings 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, green and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Elvic Steele, Rudolf Kosow, Isabel Rock, and Henry David Potwin. Frequently made by artists working with Paint, and Oil Paint 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 paintings, so small editions measuring 2 inches across are also available. Prices for paintings 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 $400,000, while the average work sells for $2,999.