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Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor 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
Period: 1960s
Untitled (Surrealist rendering of Pyramids at Giza with alligator)
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Untitled (Surrealist rendering of Pyramids at Giza with alligator) watecolor and gouache on paper, 1960 Unsigned Beni Kosh estate stamp No. 717 verso, unsigned. (see photo) Co...
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1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Watercolor, Gouache

Untitled - 1968 Watercolor & Pencil - Three Surrealist Figures - Surrealism
Located in Rancho Santa Fe, CA
Dorothea Tanning Untitled 11 x 10 inches Signed & dated lower right Framed A 1968 watercolor & pencil depicting three surrealist figures. PROVENANCE: Merz Kunsthandlung (Sprengler...
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1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor, Pencil

Sans Titre 2 Original Pastel/Drawing on Paper
Located in Hollywood, FL
Artist: Roberto Matta Title: Sans Titre 2 Medium: Original pastel/drawing on paper Signed: Hand Signed Measurements: 20" x 25" Framed: 28" x 35" Authentication: Kajsa Westling N...
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1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Archival Paper

Sans Titre 3 Original Pastel/Drawing on Paper
Located in Hollywood, FL
Artist: Roberto Matta Title: Sans Titre 3 Medium: Original pastel/drawing on paper Signed: Hand Signed Measurements: 20" x 27" Framed: 28" x 35" Authentication: Kajsa Westling N...
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1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Archival Paper

Sans Titre Original Pastel/Drawing 1
Located in Hollywood, FL
Artist: Roberto Matta Title: Sans Titre 1 Medium: Original pastel/drawing on paper Signed: Hand Signed Year: 1969 Measurements: 12" x 16" Framed: 20" x 24" Authentication: Kajsa...
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1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Archival Paper

Untitled Female Nude with Male, Original Drawing by Surrealist Painter
Located in Doylestown, PA
"Untitled Female Nude and Male" is a 22 x 17 inches, ink on paper drawing by American Surrealist painter Leon Kelly. The drawing is signed and dated in the lower right, it is matted ...
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1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper

Apocalypse, Catastrophic Destruction of the World, Surrealism - Life Magazine
Located in Miami, FL
Apocalypse in 1962? At the height of the Cold War, Life Magazine commissions an illustration that describes the world's end by means other than a nuclear war with Russia. Richard Erdoes brilliantly illustrates the work with his highly stylized painting technique. My favorite part of the work is on the left side showing a group of people packed together as they fall into oblivion. A clear reference would be Hieronymus Bosch's "The Last Judgment " Once Again the World Ends." Illustration published in Life Magazine, Feb. 9, 1962 Signed in lower right image. Unframed Richard Erdoes (Hungarian Erdős, German Erdös; July 7, 1912 – July 16, 2008) was an American artist, photographer, illustrator and author. Early life Erdoes was born in Frankfurt,[1] to Maria Josefa Schrom on July 7, 1912. His father, Richárd Erdős Sr., was a Jewish Hungarian opera singer who had died a few weeks earlier in Budapest on June 9, 1912.[2] After his birth, his mother lived with her sister, the Viennese actress Leopoldine ("Poldi") Sangora,[3] He described himself as "equal parts Austrian, Hungarian and German, as well as equal parts Catholic, Protestant and Jew..."[4] Career He was a student at the Berlin Academy of Art in 1933, when Adolf Hitler came to power. He was involved in a small underground paper where he published anti-Hitler political cartoons which attracted the attention of the Nazi regime. He fled Germany with a price on his head. Back in Vienna, he continued his training at the Kunstgewerbeschule, now the University of Applied Arts, Vienna.[5] He also wrote and illustrated children's books and worked as a caricaturist for Tag and Stunde, anti-Nazi newspapers. After the Anschluss of Austria in 1938 he fled again, first to Paris, where he studied at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere, and then London, England before journeying to the United States. He married his first wife, fellow artist Elsie Schulhof (d. xxxx) in London, shortly before their arrival in New York City. In New York City, Erdoes enjoyed a long career as a commercial artist, and was known for his highly detailed, whimsical drawings. He created illustrations for such magazines as Stage, Fortune, Pageant, Gourmet, Harper's Bazaar, Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, Time, National Geographic and Life Magazine, where he met his second wife, Jean Sternbergh (d. 1995) who was an art director there. The couple married in 1951 and had three children.[6] Erdoes also illustrated many children's books. An assignment for Life in 1967 took Erdoes to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation for the first time, and marked the beginning of the work for which he would be best known. Erdoes was fascinated by Native American culture, outraged at the conditions on the reservation and deeply moved by the Civil Rights Movement that was raging at the time. He wrote histories, collections of Native American stories...
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1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Mixed Media, Illustration Board, Board, Gouache

Surrealist and Whimsical Watercolor by an unknown Mexican Painter
Located in Pasadena, CA
Lots of humor in this watercolor painted by a Mexican artist who unfortunately did not sign it. We enter in a fancy world. Be prepared! Two trinkets featuring, the first one, an imaginary church with 4 big threatening birds standing guard, two on the 2 church towers, and two in front of the door. Behind this, we can perceive the shape of a big kettle. These surreal objects stand in front of a window, therefore inside a house. They rest on a small green carpet...
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1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper

Surrealist Geometric Variation Colors Drawings on Tracing Paper, France 1960s
Located in Atlanta, GA
These stunning original project drawings, hand-painted with colored pencil on translucent tracing paper, were designed by a French artist circa the 1960s. The two paintings feature a...
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1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Color Pencil

Geometric Multicolor Surrealist Drawings on Tracing Paper, France 1960s
Located in Atlanta, GA
These lovely original project drawings, hand-painted with colored pencils on translucent tracing paper, were designed by a French artist circa the 1960s. The two paintings feature a study of kitchen accessories: a soup tureen and a vintage coffee bean...
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1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Color Pencil

Geometric Color Variation Surrealist Drawings on Tracing Paper, France 1960s
Located in Atlanta, GA
These stunning original project drawings, hand-painted with colored pencils on translucent tracing paper, were designed by a French artist circa the 1960s. The two paintings feature ...
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1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Color Pencil

Surrealist Geometric Color Variation Drawings on Tracing Paper, France 1960s
Located in Atlanta, GA
These stunning original project drawings, hand-painted with colored pencil on translucent tracing paper were designed by a French artist, circa the 1960s. The two paintings feature a...
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1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Color Pencil

Funny and Sad Face, Surrealist Drawing, France 1960s Geometric Colorist Project
Located in Atlanta, GA
This original project drawing, hand-painted with colored pencil on translucent tracing paper, was designed by a French artist circa the 1960s. The painting features a geometric study...
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1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Color Pencil

Surrealist Drawings on Tracing Paper, France 1960s Geometric Colorist Project
Located in Atlanta, GA
Stunning original project drawings, hand-painted with color pencil on translucent tracing paper by French artist, circa the 1960s. The two paintings feature a geometric study of litt...
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1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Color Pencil, Paper

Geometric Colorist Project Surrealist Drawings on Tracing Paper, France 1960s
Located in Atlanta, GA
Stunning original project drawings, hand-painted with color pencil on translucent tracing paper by French artist, circa the 1960s. The two paintings feature a geometric study of litt...
Category

1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Color Pencil

Surrealist Geometric Colorist Project Drawings on Tracing Paper, France 1960s
Located in Atlanta, GA
Stunning original project drawings, hand-painted with color pencil on translucent tracing paper by French artist, circa the 1960s. The two paintings feature a geometric study in color variations of a skinny man and a curvy woman...
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1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Color Pencil

1960s Illegibly signed surrealist ink drawing
Located in Larchmont, NY
Unknown Artist Untitled, c. 1960s Ink on paper Sight size: 10 x 7 in. Framed: 15 1/4 x 12 1/4 in. Signed illegibly lower right: Jack Bl...?
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1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Ink

'Head of Woman With Collar #781' Felt tip pen, signed by artist
Located in Milwaukee, WI
Art: 9"x11-1/2" Frame: 16"x18-5/8" Felt tip pen, signed lower right Sylvia Born in 1908, Sylvia Spicuzza was the daughter of noted painter Francesco Spicuzza. Sylvia devoted herself to teaching art to the students of Lake Bluff Elementary School in Shorewood, WI. During this time Sylvia produced a magnificent body of work that was undiscovered until her death. Sylvia's work is rich, diverse and fascinating collection of drawings...
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1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Felt Pen

BLACK CHAIR (ORIGINAL GOUACHE)
Located in Aventura, FL
Original gouache and ink painting on paper. Hand signed and dated by Alexander Calder. Executed in 1969, this work is registered in the archives of the Calder Foundation, New York,...
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1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Ink, Gouache

UNTITLED (GIRAFFE)
Located in Aventura, FL
Original crayon and pencil drawing on cut-out paper mounted on board. Hand signed with artist's initials CA. Executed in 1966, this work is registered in the archives of the Calder...
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1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Crayon, Pencil

Women - Drawing by Guelfo Bianchini - 1961
Located in Roma, IT
Women is an original watercolor drawing realized by Guelfo Bianchini in 1961. The artwork is hand signed and daed by the artist. Includes frame: 68....
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1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

'Surrealistic Nude Figures, ' by Leonard Kaplan, Painting, c. 1960s
Located in Oklahoma City, OK
This framed 20" x 14" painting in a surrealist style by artist Leonard Kaplan depicts three nude figures crowded together, sitting and standing with a white bird obscured by the dark shadows. Predominant colors are red, orange, black, and cream. The painting is on paper and masonite framed behind glass in a silver metal frame. Leonard Kalan is known for surrealism and figure paintings. He died in California in 2008. Leonard was born January 15, 1922 in New York City and won a scholarship in 1940 to study at the Art Student League under Reginald Marsh and William Pair. He won an art scholarship to New York University in the late 1930's. He studied art at the Henry Street...
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1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Archival Paper, Masonite, Chalk, Acrylic

'3D Surrealist Mixed Media Portrait, ' by Jeffrey Kronsnoble, Mixed Media
Located in Oklahoma City, OK
This framed 15.5" x 13.25" mixed media female portrait by artist Jeffrey Kronsnoble features the black and white profile of a women with a circular ...
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1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Mixed Media, Graphite

"Three Medusas, " Eugene Berman, Surrealism, Greek Still Life
Located in New York, NY
Eugene Gustavovitch Berman (1899 - 1972) Three Medusas, 1968 Watercolor on paper 12 x 9 1/2 inches Initialed and dated lower right Provenance: Larcada Gallery, New York Frank Oehlsc...
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1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Hodel Fantastic Surrealist Oil Painting Monotype Switzerland Signed 1969
Located in Meinisberg, CH
Hodel (Swiss, 20th Century) Fantastic Surrealist Painting • Extensively overworked monotype on stiff paper • Mixed media - Ink, oil and/or gouache on stiff paper • Signed ' HODEL' ...
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1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Ink, Oil, Gouache

Little Theater - China Ink Drawing by Jorge Castillo - 1960
Located in Roma, IT
Little Theater is a fascinating drawing in China ink made by the Spanish Surrealist artist Jorge Castillo (1933), dated around 1960. The paper is glued on the four corners on a card...
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1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Ink

Hesitation Blues (Black Surrealist Artist)
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Surrealist proto-Afropunk drawing by African-American artist, Roland Ayers (1932-2014). Hesitation Blues, 1968. Ink on paper, sheet measures 13 x 23 inches; 14 x 18 inches in archiva...
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1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Ink, Archival Paper

The Capture of the Hippogriff - Drawing by Fabrizio Clerici - 1960s
Located in Roma, IT
The Capture of the Hippogriff is an enchanting drawing in watercolor and china ink realized by Fabrizio Clerici. Hand-signed on the lower margin. In excellent conditions. The artw...
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1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Ink, Watercolor

"Circus Side Show with Flying Turtles, " Purple Ink signed by David Barnett
Located in Milwaukee, WI
"Circus Side Show with Flying Turtles" is an original purple ink drawing by David Barnett. The artist signed the artwork along the lower part of the drawing ...
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1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Ink

Figure - Original Mixed Media by Sergio Barletta - 1960s
Located in Roma, IT
Figure is an original drawing in mixed media, ink and tempera on cardboard, realized by Sergio Barletta. In good conditions except for some decoloration along the margins. Applied ...
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1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Mixed Media, Ink, Tempera

"Bamboo, Lobster, & Cherries, " Original Ink Drawing signed by David Barnett
Located in Milwaukee, WI
"Bamboo, Lobster, & Cherries," is an original surrealist ink drawing by David Barnett, signed in upper right. In the work, a lobster transforms into a stalk of bamboo in three stages...
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1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Ink

Oedipus And The Sphinx
Located in Miami, FL
Initialed in cartouche bottom center Provenance: Robert L. B. Tobin Foundation Matted but Unframed
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1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

India Ink, Gouache

Surrealist Composition - Original China Ink Drawing by Jorge Castillo - 1960 ca.
Located in Roma, IT
Surrealist Composition is a fascinating drawing in China ink made by the Spanish Surrealist artist Jorge Castillo, dated around 1960. The artwork was drawn on a paper that presents, ...
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1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Ink

"Mountain Mystery, " Charcoal on Paper signed by David Barnett
Located in Milwaukee, WI
"Mountain Mystery" is an original signed charcoal drawing by David Barnett. The surrealistic landscape depicts mountainous natural forms with swirling lines and an element of uncerta...
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1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Charcoal

Mouvement Spatiale, 1962 - crayon, 80x130 cm., framed.
Located in Nice, FR
He was born in Paris, the son of a conversation though open-minded middle-class family. His father runs the family business of optical equipment but he's also a theatre lover, an author and a poet. He gives his son a strict education and the boy will feel closer to his mother. Pierre De Maria will become a honest, straightforward man, uncompromising to himself and the others. He is very particular about his appearance and, as a child of the "Belle époque" takes up to a kind of dandysm. A cousin of his, Jacques Camoreyt (a pupil of Albert Maignan) teaches him how to master pictorial techniques along with the rather academic education in Arts he is going through. From 1907 to 1914 he is a student at the Lycée Condorcet, first graduates in science and languages, then at the Engineering College just before World War 1. The sight of atrocities will leave a deep scar in his memory. He has a miraculous escape from the war and finds a job in the family firm. He soon realizes he hates everything related to engineering and decides to launch on into painting. He works as a scene painter with Ronsin and Laverdet workshop and on stage with "avant-garde" drama companies. In the same time, he shows his work at the "Salon d'Automne" in 1923 an gets a honour prize in the modern painting department. In 1925 he takes up to boxing and creates some polychromatic facades with Djo Bourgeois, then gets into the Art Deco trend as an architect and a decorator. Henri-Pierre Roché, a writer (Jules et Jim) a painter and an art collector close to the cubists has already discovered talents ( Brancusi, Wols…) and takes an in interest in Pierre De Maria. Autoportrait Environ 1960 In 1926 (the "Années Folles "in Paris) Pierre De Maria meets Marcel Duchamp, Brancusi and the surrealist gang he enjoys but never joins. « They were friends and I was curious but I never liked the hint of complaisance I saw in their work. » He then starts some technical research an collages as shown in his first exhibition of "pasted gouaches" in Princess'Murat 's gallery in Paris. (« Fermé la nuit ») « I never thought I'd make money with my paintings. I took to painting as I would have taken holy orders » He works as a journalist for Marianne and Vu magazines (1932-1933) and writes a detailed report about the Maelström in Norway and the soviet Movies. He has the opportunity to meet Eisenstein and Poudovkine in Sovietic Russia and thinks of making a name for himself in the Movie industry. In 1939 Pierre De Maria meets Germaine Pellegrino who becomes his wife a year later. They'll have two sons : Jacques born 1942 and François born 1943. The family settle in Geneva at the end of 1943. During those years he writes an unpublished autobiographical novel («Tir à volonté») as well as a collection of thoughts about various topics such as war. He also writes poems and a play (as his father had done) «Cornelius'death», in a rather humorous manner. « He who conveys the opinion of fools makes certain to get the majority of votes ». In 1944 he is back in Paris, leaving his wife. He'll settle in Nice in 1953 and starts there his mechanical period with the recurrent theme of machinery in his painting. In 1958 he has his second exhibition in Paris (JC de Chaudun's gallery) and shows a series of lino-engravings done after some drawings of his: he then begins being acknowledged by his contemporaries, his fellow-painters and the Parisian artistic circle. Jacques Prévert even dedicated him a poem. («Les Machinoutis») Henri Pierre Roché, Henri-Pieyre de Mandiargues, Yves Taillandier contribute to the catalogue, well received by the press. In the meantime, he has his works exhibited at the Salon d'Automne, the Salon de Mai, and the Salon Comparaison. In 1963, Flemish wood-engraver Frans Masereel, and Professor Gowa, the curator of the Offenbach Fine Arts, both introduce Pierre De Maria successfully in Germany, allowing him to become famous abroad. The Homo Atomicus Exhibition gathers 45 paintings, recounting the artist'progress over the past ten years. He's then nicknamed the «Atomic age Hyperonymus Bosch» ! In 1964, Greek gallery owner Iris Clert finds him out and helps him into a new career. He is then 68. Iris Clert, as a specialist in Contemporary Art has contributed to the coming out of the New Realism movement through her most spectacular and mediatical exhibitions. She takes a fancy to Pierre De Maria 's work : « The visit of his studio turned my love at first sight into a cutainty : he uses the technique from the Ancients to express Future. » Afterwards, both get into intense collaboration so that the painter is allowed to use the gallery owner's european and international net. In 1966, his work's dedicated a research published in Connaissance des Arts Magazine n° 70 : » A foreground study of Pierre De Maria in this month issue ». Later an article in International Art. In 1969 he turns 73 and he can see his first retrospective exhibition in Nice at the Ponchettes Gallery (about 60 paintings). At 76, he meets artist Hélène Bottet, from then on allowing humour to take over violence in his art. Machines don't frighten him anymore, he's now able to mock them even through they remain at the core of his paintings, in spite of the mechanical Art...
Category

1960s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Crayon

Surrealist drawings and watercolor paintings for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Surrealist drawings and watercolor 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 drawings and watercolor 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, yellow and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Isabel Rock, Corne Akkers, Maria C. Bernhardsson, and Sergio Barletta. Frequently made by artists working with Paper, and 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 drawings and watercolor paintings, so small editions measuring 3.75 inches across are also available. Prices for drawings and watercolor 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 $121 and tops out at $224,500, while the average work sells for $1,494.

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