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: 1970s
Mod Surrealist 1970's Drawing Watercolor Painting Jungle Fantasy, Unicorn, Lion
Located in Surfside, FL
Jungle fantasy Scene, Ink, Colored ink and color watercolor surreal fantasy scene, birds, giraffes, alligators, snakes, turtles, storks, unicorn and maiden in a tepee, lions and elep...
Category
1970s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Ink, Watercolor
70s Modernist Swiss Dada Surrealist Painting Signed Andre Thomkins Brush Drawing
Located in Surfside, FL
This is titled "Karrierist" the German word for careerist and depicts a surreal face on a figure with a Salvador Dali esque quality about it.
Published by Edition Hansjörg Mayer, Stuttgart They published concrete poetry and art books by Mark Boyle, Richard Hamilton, Dorothy Iannone, John Latham, Tom Phillips, Dieter Roth, André Thompkins and Emmett Williams, to name just a few.
André Thomkins (1930 - 1985) was a Swiss painter, illustrator, and poet. He attended art-school, taught by Max von Moos, 1947 – 1949 and the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, Paris, France, 1950. From 1952, he lived in Germany and taught at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf between 1971 and 1973.
Thomkins painted and drew ironic and fantastic pictures influenced by surrealism and dadaism. Together with Dieter Roth and Daniel Spoerri he prepared works of Eat Art. He also was a writer of palindromes. His friends and collaborators included Daniel Spoerri, Dieter Roth, George Brecht, Richard Hamilton and Karl Gerstner, Thomkins gained a reputation as an ‘artist’s artist’, and is considered one of the most important Swiss artists of the second half of the twentieth century.He died in 1985.
His work is currently represented by Hauser & Wirth Zurich, Switzerland.
Select group exhibitions:
2018
Kunsthalle Krems, 'Pablo Picasso. Arshile Gorky, Andy Warhol. Sculptures and Works on Paper. Hubert Looser Collection', Krems, Austria
2017
Kunsthandel Wolfgang Werner, 'Martin Barré, Karl Otto Götz, Ernst Wilhelm Nay, André Thomkins',
Berlin, Germany
2013
Fabian & Claude Walter Galerie, 'Schweizer Avantgarde Kunst nach 1940', Zurich, Switzerland
2009
The Modern Institute, 'Thomas Houseago, Dieter Roth, Andre Thomkins', Glasgow, England
Museum of Modern Art, 'Compass in Hand: Selections from the Judith Rothschild Collection', NYC
2004
Kunsthandel Wolfgang Werner, 'Arman, Baumeister, Götz, Graubner, Tàpies, Thomkins', Berlin,
Germany
1994
Kunstmuseum Solothurn, 'Eine Schenkung. Grafik von Eduardo Chillida, Antoni Tàpies, Alexander Calder, Jean Dubuffet, Ben Nicholson, Giacometti, Tinguely, Thomkins', Solothurn, Switzerland
1992
Galerie Littmann, Tinguely zu Ehren. A Tribute to Jean Tinguely. Hommage à Tinguely, Basel,
1988
Museum Ludwig, 'Uebrigens sterben immer die anderen. Marcel Duchamp und die Avantgarde seit
1950', Cologne, Germany
1987
Aargauer Kunsthaus, 'Otto Grimm. Marc-Antoine Fehr. Christoph Gredinger', Aarau, Switzerland
Cercle Municipal, 'Art contemporain suisse. Collection de la Banque du Gothard', Luxembourg,
1985
Centre national d'art et de culture Georges Pompidou, 'Livres d'artistes', Paris, France
Rathaus, 'Claude Sandoz – Hans Schärer...
Category
1970s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Lithograph, Offset
The temptation of Saint Anthony (1977) by Vivaldo Martini - Drawing 36x49 cm
Located in Geneva, CH
His first name sounds like a concerto. Vivacious, its name is reminiscent of an aperitif or a cyclist. The addition of the two evokes the Italianate. Indomitable and unavoidable. Mor...
Category
1970s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Pen
Paysage de l'infini by José Gerson - Drawing 50x70 cm
Located in Geneva, CH
Work on paper without frame
Category
1970s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Color Pencil
Surrealist composition by José Gerson n°2 - Gouache on paper 42x62 cm
Located in Geneva, CH
Work on paper without frame
Category
1970s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Pastel, Gouache, Carbon Pencil
The society gravitates to an uncertain core by José Gerson - Pastel 68x50 cm
Located in Geneva, CH
Work on paper without frame
Category
1970s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Pastel, Color Pencil
Carousel of nudes
Located in Geneva, CH
The work is signed and dated but artist unknown from the gallery
The work is framed. White wooden frame with glass, total size 82x62 cm
Category
1970s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Ink
The feather of the soul by José Gerson - Gouache on paper 50x70 cm
Located in Geneva, CH
Work on paper without frame
Category
1970s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Gouache, Color Pencil
Surrealist composition of José Gerson n°1 - Drawing 67x46 cm
Located in Geneva, CH
Work on paper without frame
Category
1970s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Carbon Pencil
Fantastic Animals - Original Mixed Media by Guelfo Bianchini - 1970s
Located in Roma, IT
Fantastic Animals is an original contemporary artwork realized by Guelfo Bianchini in 1970s.
Mixed media technique.
Includes frame.
Collect a contemporary artwork!
Guelfo Bianch...
Category
1970s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Mixed Media
Fresh Sketch - Red Ink Drawing by Wifredo Lam - 1970
By Wifredo Lam
Located in Roma, IT
Wonderful fresh sketch in red ink on an ivory-colored paper, with an autograph dedication "Per Pino Fasio amicia Pittore Wifredo Lam Albissola 1970" . Dated and signed in red ink. V...
Category
1970s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Paper, Ink
Composition - Original Drawing by Antoine Mayo - 1970s
Located in Roma, IT
Composition is an original ink and watercolor drawing on paper, realized by the artist Antoine Mayo (1905-1990) in the 1970s.
Good conditions.
Antoine M...
Category
1970s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Ink, Watercolor
Composition - Drawing by Antoine Mayo - 1970s
Located in Roma, IT
Composition is an original ink and watercolor drawing on paper, realized by the artist Antoine Mayo (1905-1990) in the 1970s.
Good conditions.
Antoine M...
Category
1970s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Ink, Watercolor
Composition - Drawing by Roberto Matta - 1970s
Located in Roma, IT
Composition is a wonderful Pastel drawing on paper realized in the early 1970s by the Surrealist artist Sebastián Matta (Santiago de Chile, 1911 - Civitavecchia, 2002).
Not signed,...
Category
1970s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Pencil
Untitled - Surrealist Scene - Drawing by Albert Debois - 1973
Located in Roma, IT
Untitled - Surrealist Scene is an original contemporary artwork realized by Albert Debois in 1973.
Mixed colored pastel on paper.
Hand signed and dated on the lower right margin.
...
Category
1970s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Pencil, Pastel
Untitled (Guardian Angel, Gabriel)
By Ian Hornak
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Ian Hornak (1944-2002)
Title: Untitled (Guardian Angel, Gabriel)
Year: 1973
Medium: Ink on heavy archival paper
Size: 22 x 30 inches
Condition: Good
Provenance: Estate of Ian...
Category
1970s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Ink
(Apocalyptic Tropical Landscape) Untitled
By Ian Hornak
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Ian Hornak (1944-2002)
Title: Untitled (Apocalyptic Tropical Landscape)
Year: 1973
Medium: Ink on heavy archival paper
Size: 22 x 30 inches
...
Category
1970s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Ink
View on Cherry Hill, Barbados
By Ian Hornak
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Ian Hornak (1944-2002)
Title: View on Cherry Hill, Barbados
Year: 1971
Medium: Pencil on heavy archival paper
Size: 29 x 41 inches
Condition: Good
...
Category
1970s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Pencil
(Apocalyptic Tropical Landscape) Untitled
By Ian Hornak
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Ian Hornak (1944-2002)
Title: Untitled (Apocalyptic Tropical Landscape)
Year: 1973
Medium: Ink on heavy archival paper
Size: 22 x 30 inches
...
Category
1970s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Ink
Surrealist Latin American Mixed Media - Woman In Green Pants With Ship
Located in Surfside, FL
Armando Villagran lived from 1945 to 1995 in Mexico. He was a self-taught artist, painter, draftsman and illustrator with a neo-figurative style. He has been considered by Mexican ar...
Category
1970s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Ink, Watercolor
Untitled (Angel, Gabriel)
By Ian Hornak
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Ian Hornak (1944-2002)
Title: Untitled (Angel, Gabriel)
Year: 1973
Medium: Ink on heavy archival paper
Size: 22 x 30 inches
Condition: Good
Provenance: Estate of Ian Hornak, ...
Category
1970s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Ink
(Apocalyptic Tropical Landscape) Untitled
By Ian Hornak
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Ian Hornak (1944-2002)
Title: Untitled (Apocalyptic Tropical Landscape)
Year: 1973
Medium: Ink on heavy archival paper
Size: 22 x 30 inches
...
Category
1970s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Ink
(Scottish Rockscape) Untitled
By Ian Hornak
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Ian Hornak (1944-2002)
Title: Untitled (Scottish Rockscape)
Year: 1973
Medium: Ink on heavy archival paper
Size: 22 x 30 inches
Condition: Good
Provenance: Estate of Ian Horn...
Category
1970s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Ink
Surrealist Latin American Mixed Media Watercolor & Ink - Woman Holding Purse
Located in Surfside, FL
Armando Villagran lived from 1945 to 1995 in Mexico. He was a self-taught artist, painter, draftsman and illustrator with a neo-figurative style. He has been considered by Mexican ar...
Category
1970s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Ink, Watercolor
'U.S.S. Love', Swimming with Mermaids, Merman
By Roberta Loach
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Signed lower left, 'Roberta Loach' and dated '79'; additionally signed verso and dated.
An enigmatic and whimsical drawing of a young woman in swimming costume and cap preparing to...
Category
1970s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Paper, Color Pencil
Suitor with Voyeur
Located in Miami, FL
Roy Carruthers is a brilliant mix of George Tooker and Fernando Botero but with unexpected charm.
"The Suitor with Voyeur", A variation of this concept was done in oil twenty years later. "The Venus of Ponte Vedra...
Category
1970s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Graphite
Butterfly
Located in Los Angeles, CA
TOM PERKINSON
"BUTTERFLY"
MIXED MEDIA, SIGNED
AMERICAN, DATED 1974
21.5 X 21 INCHES
Tom Perkinson was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. He was raised in the country, and developed ...
Category
1970s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Oil, Mixed Media
Skeletons - Polish Art Master, Contemporary Surreal Drawing, XXI Century
Located in Warsaw, PL
Drawing on paper, 1975
FRANCISZEK STAROWIEYSKI (b.1930- d.2009)
studied paitning at Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków and Warsaw (1949-1955). He specialized in poster, drawing, paintin...
Category
1970s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Paper, Carbon Pencil
Matches - Polish Art Master, Contemporary Surreal Drawing
Located in Warsaw, PL
Paintnig is on exhibition, please cuntact us for availability
Drawing on paper, 1978
FRANCISZEK STAROWIEYSKI (b.1930- d.2009)
studied paitning at Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków and...
Category
1970s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Paper, Carbon Pencil
lot of four surrealist inks - ink on paper, 10.5x30.5 cm., framed
Located in Nice, FR
Lot of four ink drawings by the german surrealist painter Sven Hauptmann. all signed. framed
Category
1970s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Ink
Tentacion, Surrealist Ink Drawing by J. Benito Zamora
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: J. Benito Zamora, Mexican (1951 - )
Title: Tentacion
Year: 1978
Medium: Pen and Ink on Paper, signed and dated l.r.
Size: 15 in. x 11.5 in. (38.1...
Category
1970s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Ink, Pen
Mod Surrealist 1970's Drawing Watercolor Painting Jungle Fantasy, Unicorn, Lion
Located in Surfside, FL
Jungle fantasy Scene, Ink, Colored ink and color watercolor surreal fantasy scene, birds, giraffes, alligators, snakes, turtles, storks, unicorn and maiden in a tepee, lions and elephants.
Laurence L. Donovan Jr. (1927-2001) was a poet, artist, and English professor at the University of Miami, best known for his poetry, much of which was inspired by Florida’s natural beauty.
Donovan grew up in southern Florida. His parents were Ruth and Laurence Donovan...
Category
1970s Surrealist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Ink, Watercolor
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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