When did Surrealism start?

Surrealism started in the 1920s, following the conclusion of World War I. Surrealist artists were informed by the Dada movement, which originated in 1916 in 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. On 1stDibs, explore a range of Surrealist art.