Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
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.
1940s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Charcoal
20th Century Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
India Ink, Paper
2010s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Archival Paper, Watercolor
Late 20th Century Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Ink
Late 20th Century Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Ink, Watercolor
1990s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Ink
Late 20th Century Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Ink, Watercolor
1990s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Ink, Synthetic Paper
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Foam Board, Pencil, Graphite
Mid-20th Century Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Engraving, Lithograph
2010s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Pencil, Graphite
2010s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Pencil, Graphite
1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Color Pencil
1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Color Pencil
1980s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Graphite, Pencil, Pastel, Oil Pastel
2010s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor, Archival Paper
20th Century Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Color Pencil
1970s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pen
1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Color Pencil, Paper
1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Color Pencil
2010s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paint, Mixed Media, Archival Paper, Pen
1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Color Pencil
1940s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Gouache
1990s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Oil, Paper
1990s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Acrylic, Paper
2010s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paint, Mixed Media, Acrylic, Archival Paper, Pen
Mid-20th Century Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor, Ink
1980s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Carbon Pencil
2010s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Mixed Media, Woodcut, Paint, Acrylic, Archival Paper, Pen
1970s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Mixed Media
1950s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pencil
1980s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Color Pencil
2010s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pen, Mixed Media, Paint, Archival Paper
2010s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Mixed Media, Paint, Archival Paper, Pen
1950s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor
2010s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paint, Archival Paper, Pen, Ink
1970s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Carbon Pencil
1970s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pastel, Color Pencil
2010s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paint, Ink, Archival Paper, Pen
1980s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Color Pencil
1970s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Ink
1980s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pastel, Ink, Gouache
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Ink, Mixed Media, Watercolor
1980s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Ink, Color Pencil
2010s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor, Mixed Media
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Charcoal, Paper, Ink, Mixed Media
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Charcoal, Paper, Ink, Mixed Media
1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor
2010s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor, Archival Paper
Mid-20th Century Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Ballpoint Pen
Artist Comments
Artist Dwight Smith paints a modern realist composition of the ends of pencils. He paints them in different colors to lead your eye through the painting. Dwight...
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
2010s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pen, Mixed Media, Archival Paper, Paint
2010s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pen, Mixed Media, Paint, Archival Paper
2010s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor
2010s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pen, Archival Paper, Paint, Mixed Media
1950s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pen