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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
Latvian Israeli Surreal Gouache Illustration Art Painting Tel Aviv
Located in Surfside, FL
Maris Bishofs was born in 1939 in Rujiena, Latvia. In 1965 he became the first artist to graduate from the Latvian Art Academy with an interior design diploma. In 1972 he emigrated t...
Category

1970s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Gouache

Surrealist Large Painting Royal College of Art LGBTQ+ Artist Cat Blue Flowers
Located in Norfolk, GB
Isabel Rock is a creator of contemporary fairy tales. A graduate of the Royal College of Art in London, her work is an explosion of strange occurrences while a surreal narrative take...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Paint, Mixed Media, Acrylic, Archival Paper, Pen

Beyond Tranquility-original still life-seascape oil painting-contemporary Art
Located in London, Chelsea
"Beyond Tranquility" by Luis Fuentes beckons admirers into a realm where surrealism and realism converge seamlessly, creating an original still life interior-seascape painting that i...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Genovart Gray Background Yellow original surrealist acrylic painting
Located in CORAL GABLES - MIAMI, FL
Luces original surrealist acrylic painting. GENOVART LLOPIS, Jaume (Barcelona, 1941-1994). Basically self - taught painter, was released in 1972. Grandson of typesetter and booksell...
Category

1970s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

ShaoHua Nong Surrealist Original Oil On Canvas "Light And Shade"
Located in New York, NY
Title: Light And Shade Medium: Oil on canvas Size: 12 x 16 inches Frame: Framing options available! Condition: The painting appears to be in excellent condition. Note: This painting ...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Visionary Mystical Landscape Mississippi Artist
Located in Soquel, CA
Vibrant landscape with a group of trees by H. W. Shankle (20th Century). The trees, clouds, and ground are all swirling, as if warped by the perspective of the viewer, creating a fantastical feeling to the composition. In the Visionary Artist style. Signed and dated "H. Shankle 71" along the bottom edge. Label from exhibition on verso. Presented in a distressed frame. Board size: 16"H x 20"W Hugh W. Shankle (American, b. 1921) was a photo technician with WLBT-TV in Jackson, Mississippi, during the late 1950s and '60s. He was also the official photographer for the Mississippi Art...
Category

1970s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Acrylic, Cardboard, Canvas

High Drama Adventure Scene - Italian Illustrator Mid-Century Jules Verne
Located in Miami, FL
Original illustration was done by Renna for the novel "Journey to the Center of the Earth" by Jules Verne, published in 1963. What makes this work special is how brilliantly the subj...
Category

1960s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Illustration Board, Tempera

1970 Mod Surrealist Painting Collage David Hare Abstract Landscape Summer Land
By David Hare
Located in Surfside, FL
David Hare Summer Land, 1970 Acrylic or oil paint and collage on board Dimensions: 26 X 36 inches. Framed measuring 29 x 38 inches. Hand signed, dated and titled on tape to verso 'Summer Land 1970 Hare'. Provenance: Hamilton Gallery of Contemporary Art, New York David Hare (1917 – 1992) was an American artist, associated with the Surrealist movement. He is primarily known for his sculpture, though he also worked extensively in photography and oil painting. The VVV Surrealism Magazine was first published and edited by Hare in 1942. Born March 10, 1917 in New York City, New York to father Meredith Hare, a lawyer and mother Elizabeth Sage Goodwin, an art collector. In the 1920s the family moved first to Santa Fe, New Mexico and later to Colorado Springs, Colorado, in hope that the fresh air would help heal Meredith Hare's tuberculosis. His mother founded the Fountain Valley School, where David attended high school. After high school Hare married and moved to Roxbury, Connecticut where he worked as a color photographer. He attended Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson from 1936 to 1937, studying biology and chemistry. In the late 1930s, with no previous artistic training, he began to experiment with color photography. Using his previous education in chemistry Hare developed an automatist technique called "heatage" in which he heated the unfixed negative from an 8 by 10-inch plate, causing the image to ripple and distort. Hare's Surrealist experiments in photography were only one of his many projects. In 1938 he met Susanna Winslow Wilson and the couple soon married. Both David and Susanna pursued their interests in Surrealism and regularly attended Surrealist gatherings in New York Larre French restaurant on 56th street and at Breton's Greenwich Village apartment. In 1940 he received a commission from the American Museum of Natural History to document the Pueblo Indians of the American Southwest, for which he eventually produced 20 prints developed using Eastman Kodak's then-new dye transfer process (a time-consuming and complicated technique). In the same year, he also opened his own commercial photography studio in New York City and exhibited his photographs in a solo show at the Julien Levy Gallery. In the next few years, through his cousin the painter Kay Sage, he came into contact with a number of Surrealist artists who had fled their native Europe because of World War II. Hare became closely involved with the émigré Surrealist movement and collaborated closely with them on projects such as the Surrealist journal VVV, which he co founded and edited from 1941 to 1944 with André Breton, Max Ernst, and Marcel Duchamp. With numerous illustrations by Breton, Leonora Carrington, Marc Chagall, Roberto Matta, Giorgio de Chirico, MarcelDuchamp, Max Ernst, Andre Masson, Joan Miro, Enrico Donati, Dorothea Tanning, and others. Published in only four issues between 1942-44, VVV was an experimental New York-based magazine devoted to the dissemination of Surrealism. Edited by David Hare, the short-lived magazine featured contributions from some of the leading avant-garde artists of the period. David and Susanna divorce in 1945 and Breton’s wife Jacqueline Lamba...
Category

1970s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Acrylic, Board

Untitled
Located in Hollywood, FL
Artist: Matija Bobicic Title: Untitled Size: 23 x 29 Inches (Framed: 24.5 x 30.5 inches) Medium: Acrylic on Canvas Edition: Original Year: 2018 Not...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

"Forest Elf" textured mixed technique, 2022
Located in Bogotá, Bogotá
Figurative Magical oil Painting, Figurative Painting 34" x 65" inch by Ion Xiua. Mixed technique. A magical moment, in which we recognize that we are one with the animals. The animal...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Cotton Canvas

Surrealist Landscape with Feathered Object in Acrylic, Paper, and Gold Leaf
Located in Soquel, CA
Surrealist Landscape with Feathered Object in Acrylic, Paper, and Gold Leaf Vibrant and colorful surrealist landscape by Oregon artist Hugh Webb (American, b. 1940). The main subject of this piece is a large Y-shaped object that appears to be covered in feathers created out of small ovals of paper. The landscape is comprised of a striped ground, with wispy blue tree-like object emerging from holes in the ground. Squares of pastel blue, teal, and pink float throughout the scene. The background is made of layers of distressed gold leaf. Unsigned, but was acquired from a collection of the artist's work. Board size: 24"H x 32"W Hugh Webb (American, b. 1940) earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Utah and a Master of Fine Arts degree (1969) from the University of Oregon. Webb studied with Demetrios Jameson, Mark Sponenburgh, Gordon Gilkey, and John Rock...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Gold Leaf

Vintage Signed Contemporary Surreal Apple Strength Portrait Rare Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Oil on canvas. Image size, 24H x 30L. Signed verso.
Category

1990s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Genovart Grey Background Yellow original surrealist acrylic painting
Located in CORAL GABLES - MIAMI, FL
Luces original surrealist acrylic painting. GENOVART LLOPIS, Jaume (Barcelona, 1941-1994). Basically self - taught painter, was released in 1972. Grandson of typesetter and booksell...
Category

1970s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Dos Cuba Libres
Located in Cazadero, CA
Dos Cuba Libres Never been here before? The busy rhythm, around every corner another bay, and resting will not come soon but still an elegant chaos
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Clay, Canvas, Charcoal, Oil

Philanthropic Device
Located in Cazadero, CA
Philanthropic Device is a choice to be made, to give or better to be open to receive, lingering at the point of conveyance. A relationship between here and there and ribbons arrayed ...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Clay, Charcoal, Oil

Shape of my heart, Painting, Acrylic on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
Original , surrealism, ready to hang :: Painting :: Surrealism :: This piece comes with an official certificate of authenticity signed by the artist :: Ready to Hang: Yes :: Signed: ...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

I Burnt My Hand on a Hot Cake
Located in Cazadero, CA
I Burnt My hand On a Hot Cake Morning Light through the aging blinds of indecision, together, moving, catching up to the sounds of the opening day.
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Clay, Canvas, Oil

Large Scale Surrealist Oil on Canvas, 'At the Watering Hole'.
Located in Cotignac, FR
Large late 20th century oil on canvas of animals at the watering hole by British artist Derek Carruthers. Signed to the bottom right. A magical, highly colourful and energetic paint...
Category

Late 20th Century Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

French Mod Surrealist Commedia dell'arte Circus Scene Oil Painting J.P. Serrier
Located in Surfside, FL
Jean Pierre Serrier (French, 1934-1989) Oil on canvas painting depicting four figures Hand signed lower right. Measures (frame) 26.5" x 30" wide, and (sight) 18.25." x 22.25" wide. Jean Pierre Serrier (1934 – 1989) was a French painter known for surrealism and absurdist art. Jean-Pierre Serrier was born in Montparnasse, Paris and attended the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. the son of Louis and Solange Serrier. His father fought in World War II and became a prisoner of war. In 1940, as a six-year-old, he and his mother fled Paris for Corrèze in southwest France. Childhood memories of close escapes from German bombardments would later influence his absurdist philosophy of life. Passionate about drawing, in 1951 he applied and was admitted to the École nationale supérieure des arts appliqués et des métiers d'art in Paris. He shared an attic apartment in the 16th arrondissement with fellow student Jean-Baptiste Valadié. For income, he decorated shop windows. A trip to Spain provided motifs for early works. His student work might be characterized as art naïf (Naive art). While still a student, he sold a ceramic artwork to the poet and publisher Pierre Seghers, who would later commission drawings from him. He frequented jazz clubs in Saint-Germain des Près, and while listening to Sidney Bechet at the Vieux Colombier, he met his wife, Yvette.One of the last French Surrealist and follower of Nietzsche. His art conveyed the message to all of mankind that we are only human. The other Surrealist to center his art in philosophy was Rene Magritte whose paintings reflect his understanding of Sigmund Freud. He had his first exhibition in 1955, before being sent to Algeria to complete his military service. After graduating in 1955, he was drafted for military service, spent time in Germany and Morocco, and was sent to the front lines of the Algerian War. In 1959 he exhibited works at two Parisian galleries and at Juan-les-Pins on the Côte d'Azur. From 1961, he exhibited annually at the Salon des Artistes Français. In 1962, the City of Paris purchased his painting Un dimanche In 1961, Serrier made his first visit to the United States to exhibit at a New York gallery. In 1975 and 1979, he had successful exhibitions in New Orleans, and his work was included in art and news magazines, including Time and Newsweek. Beginning in the 1950s, his works included stylized portraits similar in some ways to the "big eyes" art of Margaret Keane, though it is uncertain that either artist influenced the other. Keane painted children, and so did Serrier, sometimes from life, but Serrier’s models are usually somewhat older, though uniformly slender and with androgynous features. A gallery owner introduced Serrier to American collectors Edgar Garbisch and his wife, Bernice Chrysler (daughter of Chrysler founder Walter P. Chrysler), who had a particular interest in naïve art; they commissioned a series of portraits from Serrier. At the same time, he met Reine Ausset in Paris, who in 1961 invited him to New York to take part in an exhibition at Galerie Norval on 57th Street. The show also included work by Moïse Kisling, and the exhibition program explicitly linked the two artists, saying that Serrier, who considered Moise Kisling "the Master," had found his own technique, but "the same vision joins the grand Kisling to the young Serrier: plenitude of shapes, sureness of palette, precision in outlines." In the 1960s he began painting slender, young, androgynous figures in groups, set in sparse landscapes with suggestions of the surreal and sometimes wearing costumes of the Commedia dell'arte. In some of these paintings the eyes of the figures are completely black, a motif that would continue in his later work. In 1965, he exhibited at Forest and Reed Gallery in London. Also in 1965, he discovered the small town of Martel, and with his old roommate Jean-Baptiste Valadié purchased a house that they opened as the gallery La Licorne (The Unicorn) in 1967. Responding to the political upheavals of May 1968 in France, and following the advice of Geneva gallery owner Roger Ferrero, Serrier's work became increasingly complex, idiosyncratic, and surreal. Imagery included the Tower of Babel, bodies suspended in space, and crowds of people all dressed alike, with identical features and entirely black eyes. Mannequins, playing cards, nudes, and levitating orbs also figured in the work. In a nod to Magritte, his men sometimes wear bowler hats. Another influence may have been the works of the Franco-Belgian surrealist Gaston Bogaert (1918-2008). Serrier's first major exhibit of these works, in Geneva in 1971, was titled Le Réalisme Fantastique. (Magic Realism) In 1972, he was made a member of the Société du Salon d'Automne, under whose auspices he was invited by the Polish government to exhibit in Warsaw in 1973, as part of a cultural exchange across the Iron Curtain. In 1976, he served on the jury of the Salon d'Automne. In 1975, New Orleans gallery owner Kurt E. Schon brought his work to several cities in the United States. A copiously illustrated monograph in English, Surrealism and the Absurd: Jean Pierre Serrier, was published in 1977. Author Thomas M. Bayer wrote: Serrier's world is one where—to use Friedrich Nietzche's term—the "human herd animal" is being confronted with the overwhelming task of coping with the world, his solitude, and at times, his resignation in the face of its monstrous size and duration. It is a world where the characterless, "blind" man faces the institutions, rules and symbols that made him into the being he now is…But Serrier does not lose himself in this world he portrays. He never forgets the old French tradition, the "black" humor, à la Molière. This classical humor at times is more felt than seen, in a manner that can be terribly funny, because it is horrifying, laughable, poignant and always true. Serrier told a friend, "In each of my paintings there's a message of hope amid the crowd of stereotypical figures. It could be an escaping dirigible, or a nymphet who flees like a deer under the red and blue trees of paradise...
Category

Mid-20th Century Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Surrealist Large Painting Royal College of Art LGBTQ+ Female Pink Woods
Located in Norfolk, GB
Isabel Rock is a creator of contemporary fairy tales. A graduate of the Royal College of Art in London, her work is an explosion of strange occurrences while a surreal narrative take...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Paint, Mixed Media, Acrylic, Archival Paper, Pen

Large Scale Surrealist Oil on Canvas, 'Noah's Ark and the Animals'.
Located in Cotignac, FR
Very large scale late 20th century oil on canvas of Noah's Ark and the Animals by British artist Derek Carruthers. Signed to the bottom right. A magical, highly colourful and energe...
Category

Late 20th Century Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

A enormous sleeve, Painting, Acrylic on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
original on canvas, ready to hang :: 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

Vintage Monumental Museum Size Modernist Surreal Interior Scene Signed Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist surreal interior scene watercolor painting. Framed. Signed. Amazing detail here!!
Category

1950s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

Night fishing oil on board painting surrealist
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Josep Vergés Grau (1925-1989) - Night fishing - Oil on panel Oil measurements 73x92 cm. Frame measurements 77x96 cm.
Category

1980s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Love is found, Painting, Acrylic on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
original, ready to hang :: Painting :: Surrealism :: This piece comes with an official certificate of authenticity signed by the artist :: Ready to Hang: Yes :: Signed: Yes :: Signat...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Rising - Surreal Landscape with Row of Trees and Owl, Oil on Panel
Located in Chicago, IL
The pristine, symmetrical and orderly landscape brings an unnatural stillness to John Hrehov's painting entitled "Rising". The owl is central to the sparse landscape peeking out of it's home in the tree. Straight lines and geometric patterns are used to compose a glossy concept of reality. The painting is framed in a simple dark gray wooden frame measuring 25.25 x 29.25 inches. John Hrehov Rising oil on panel 24h x 28w in 60.96h x 71.12w cm JHR012 John Hrehov Education 1985 MFA-Painting, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 1981 BFA-Painting, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH. Solo Exhibitions 2017 John Hrehov, Paintings and Drawings. Tom Thomas Gallery, Indiana University East, Richmond, IN. 2012 Shades from White to Black, New Drawings. Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY. 2011 John Hrehov: Charcoal. Indiana University - Purdue University Fort Wayne. 2009 John Hrehov: A Survey 1999-2009 Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY. Paintings and Drawings. Seerveld Gallery, Trinity Christian College, Palos Heights, IL. 2004 John Hrehov: Drawings and Paintings. Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY. 2002 Paintings. Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY. 2001 Charcoal. Indiana University - Purdue University Fort Wayne. John Hrehov, Paintings and Drawings. Wood Street Gallery, Chicago, IL. 2000 The Picture Proper. Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY. Fearful Symmetry. Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN. Allegories in Contemporary Life. Yvonne Rapp Gallery, Louisville, KY. 1999 Paintings and Working Drawings. Adams Hall Gallery, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL. 1998 John Hrehov. Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY. John Hrehov: Paintings and Drawings. Wood Street Gallery, Chicago, IL. 1997 Object Lesson, Paintings, and Drawings by John Hrehov. Yvonne Rapp Gallery, Louisville, KY. 1995 John Hrehov. Trinity Art Gallery, Trinity Christian College, Palos Heights, IL. 1993 John Hrehov: Selected Works 1980-1992 Indiana University - Purdue University Fort Wayne. Group Exhibitions 2019 2019 Alumni Exhibition. Reinberger Gallery at The Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH. Out Of The Closet. Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY. 1026 West Berry Street: The Fort Wayne Art School. Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN. 2018 Artlink Regional Exhibition. Artlink Contemporary Art Gallery, Fort Wayne, IN. 2017 Sola Grace-Faith-Scripture: An Exhibition of Sacred Visual Art. Good Shepherd Institute at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, IN. Norman Bradley...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Panel, Oil

Chromatic butterfly - pink, Painting, Oil on Paper
Located in Yardley, PA
An original piece from the series “Please do not kill butterfliesâ€
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil

"Small Study in White" - surrealist still life, lace, skull, patterns, shell
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

Oil, Linen

"Small Study in White 3" - surrealist still life, lace, skull, patterns, shell
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

Oil, Linen

Les travailleurs de la mère
Located in Malmo, SE
Artwork size: 102,5x98 cm Frame size: 110x105 cm This artwork is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by Alisée Matta. Provenance: Artist Jean-Pierre Jouffroy, Paris. The estate of the artist Jean-Pierre Jouffroy, Paris. “The heart is an eye,” writes Nobel laureate Octavio Paz in an essay on Matta’s paintings. Matta creates a world coloured both by a sunny faith in the future and by visions of impending doom. Roberto Sebastian Echaurren Antonio Matta, who died aged 91 on 23 November 2002, was born in Santiago, Chile, on 11 November 1911 into a family with Spanish, French and Basque roots, and raised in an atmosphere of religiosity. By the age of 21 he had graduated and begun work as an architect, but his leisure time he devoted to sketching and painting. In 1933 he travelled to Europe for the first time, visiting Greece, Yugoslavia, Italy and other countries, and subsequently taking the initiative to collaborate with the architect, Le Corbusier. As time passed, however, Matta’s enthusiasm for a career in architecture waned, and he began to devote himself full-time to art, making early acquaintances with surrealists such as Max Ernst, Salvador Dalí, André Breton and others. Between 1939 and 1948 Matta, like many of his artistic contemporaries, lived in self-imposed exile in the USA, but, after almost 10 years’ absence from Europe, he returned to make first Rome and then, a few years later, Paris his home. Throughout most of the rest of his life Matta commuted between his studio in Paris and his creative refuge in the monastery outside Rome. And it is here, in Italy, that he produced his greatest paintings. Matta’s first retrospective in Sweden was organised in 1956 when his works were exhibited in what was then Galerie Colibri – run by, among others, the artist C O Hultén...
Category

1980s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"Small Study in White 3" - surrealist still life, lace, skull, patterns, shell
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

Oil, Linen

Jin Liu Surrealist Original Oil Painting "Production Plan-2"
Located in New York, NY
Title: Production Plan-2 Medium: Oil on canvas Size: 12 x 12 inches Frame: Framing options available! Condition: The painting appears to be in excellent condition. Note: This paintin...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

French Contemporary Art By Helen Uter - Mother
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 create...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Acrylic, Canvas

French Contemporary Art By Helen Uter - La Tierra
Located in Paris, IDF
Oil on canvas with knife 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...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

I Am Not Alone 1
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
"I Am Not Alone" by Joshua Salami is a captivating artwork that delves into the profound bond between a woman and her cherished pet, transcending the conventional role of a companion...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

French Contemporary Art By Helen Uter - La Muleta
Located in Paris, IDF
Oil on canvas with knife 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...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Surrealist Large Painting Royal College of Art LGBTQ+ Female Tree of Life Blue
Located in Norfolk, GB
Isabel Rock is a creator of contemporary fairy tales. A graduate of the Royal College of Art in London, her work is an explosion of strange occurrences while a surreal narrative takes the audience on a journey into the imagination. In October 2023 Isabel won the Evelyn Williams...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Paint, Mixed Media, Acrylic, Archival Paper, Pen

French Contemporary Art By Helen Uter - Ocean Girl
Located in Paris, IDF
Acrylic 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 cr...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Acrylic, Canvas

Surreal harlequin oil on board painting expressionism Ubeda
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Gustavo Úbeda (1930-1994) - Surrealist Harlequin - Oil panel Oil measurements 41x50 cm. Frame measurements 44x53 cm. The painting by Gustavo Úbeda Romer...
Category

1970s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

French Contemporary Art By Helen Uter - El Cielo
Located in Paris, IDF
Oil on canvas with knife 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...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

French Contemporary Art By Helen Uter - Abajo
Located in Paris, IDF
Oil on canvas with knife 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...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

French Contemporary Art By Helen Uter - El Aire
Located in Paris, IDF
Oil on canvas with knife 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...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

French Contemporary Art By Helen Uter - El Sol
Located in Paris, IDF
Oil on canvas with knife 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...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

French Contemporary Art By Helen Uter - El Fuego
Located in Paris, IDF
Oil on canvas with knife 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...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Sovereigns of the Sea: Pulpo Reina Urraca I, Emperatriz de Toda Españ
Located in East Hampton, NY
"a" (English translation: "Octopus Queen Urraca I, Empress of All Spain") 24"×18" acrylic on canvas ©2021 Georgia Griffin Queen Urraca I was the first woman ever to reign in a weste...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

The plotting of the Conspirators
Located in Zofingen, AG
In this vivid oil painting, I embraced cubism and surreal influences to create an ensemble of enigmatic figures, each cloaked in vibrant, contrasting colors, with intense, penetratin...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil

Just Fine
Located in Palm Desert, CA
Matheus is greatly influenced by the city he now calls home -- New York has long been the epicenter of fashion, hip hop, and street art, where he feels his interest in contemporary a...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"Watermelon by the Sea" surrealistic still life on the beach, Florida
Located in Sag Harbor, NY
"Watermelon by the Sea" is a surrealistic still life on the beach. Ackrill takes inspiration from his beach surroundings in Florida. Artist Bio Anthony Ackrill was born in Alaska i...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Tlaloc and the Tiger oil painting by Julio de Diego
Located in Hudson, NY
Tlaloc and the Tiger (1939) Oil on panel 16" x 12" 23 ¾" x 18 ¾"x 2 ½" framed Signed and dated (and inscribed) "de Diego 39" lower left. Provenance: The artist; private collection Ch...
Category

1930s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Panel, Oil

I Cry To
Located in Palm Desert, CA
Matheus is greatly influenced by the city he now calls home -- New York has long been the epicenter of fashion, hip hop, and street art, where he feels his interest in contemporary a...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings

Materials

India Ink, Watercolor

Butterfly Dreams, Original Surrealist Painting
Located in Boston, MA
Butterfly Dreams 30.0 x 40.0 x 2.0, 8.0 lbs Acrylic on canvas Hand signed by artist Artist's Commentary: "A woman is seemingly in flight over the ocean, with her body being made up of butterflies. More are flying in, others are flying out. The woman has no legs - in fact, upon closer inspection, she consists of only head, hair, arms and hands - the butterflies have flown in to form the shape of her body - but in some places, you can see right through to the water or sky. Surely, this must be a dream. And perhaps, it is the dream of the woman depicted in the painting. That is for the viewer to decide." About the Artist: Tom Blood...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

The Happy Couple, Mid Century Surrealist Fantasy Landscape by Ohio artist
Located in Beachwood, OH
Mary Spain (American, 1934-1983) The Happy Couple Oil on canvas Signed middle right, signed and titled verso 22 x 26 inches Set in a realm of fantasy, Mary Spain’s work exhibits oddly distorted figures in a child-like manner with an underlying sense of absurdity. Through her toylike and primitive style, Spain created surrealistic dramas that puzzle and entrance the viewer. Born in Raleigh, North Carolina, Mary Spain studied art at Syracuse University and moved to Ohio in the 1960s to teach art at Chagrin Falls...
Category

Mid-20th Century Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil

I Am Not Alone 2
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
"I Am Not Alone" by Joshua Salami is a captivating artwork that delves into the profound bond between a woman and her cherished pet, transcending the conventional role of a companion...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

"Personal Equation" Jimmy Ernst, Abstract Surrealism, Black, Red, Blue, White
Located in New York, NY
Jimmy Ernst Personal Equation, 1950 Signed and dated lower right Oil on canvas 41 x 39 1/2 inches Provenance: Laurel Gallery, New York Grace Borgenicht Gallery, New York Collection ...
Category

1940s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Goldfish XLII, Painting, Oil on MDF Panel
Located in Yardley, PA
A further exploration of the Goldfish theme. Painting onto a solid surface allows the colours to be more concentrated and richer. Here I've reversed the colours (except the eyes) ...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil

Mass Extinction 6 - In pieces, Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
The girl symbolises Gaia, wherever she walks things start to grow. The towers are unfettered capitalism and in front of them the teeth are consumption that can't be satiated. The puz...
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 c...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Goldfish XLV, Painting, Oil on MDF Panel
Located in Yardley, PA
A further exploration of the Goldfish theme. Painting onto a solid surface allows the colours to be more concentrated and richer. This painting is sold without a frame but please...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil

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.

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