Surrealist Mixed Media
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.
Artist Comments
The composition weaves elements of nature and psychology with paint and twigs forming a nest. A collage of hand-painted maps decorating the surface of the egg...
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Mixed Media
Mixed Media
2010s Surrealist Mixed Media
Metal
1990s Surrealist Mixed Media
Paint, Paper, Mixed Media
20th Century Surrealist Mixed Media
Mixed Media
1990s Surrealist Mixed Media
Mixed Media
1960s Surrealist Mixed Media
Paper, Crayon, Pencil
2010s Surrealist Mixed Media
Paper, Ink, Watercolor
2010s Surrealist Mixed Media
Driftwood, Oil, Laid Paper
Artist Comments
A seventh-grade algebra homework, a book page, acrylic paint, and charcoal constitute artist Libby Ramage's whimsical mixed-media piece. She affixes pages of ...
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Mixed Media
Mixed Media
2010s Surrealist Mixed Media
Driftwood, Oil, Laid Paper
20th Century Surrealist Mixed Media
Acrylic
2010s Surrealist Mixed Media
Gold Leaf
2010s Surrealist Mixed Media
Mixed Media, Watercolor, Archival Paper
1940s Surrealist Mixed Media
Pastel, Mixed Media, Color Pencil
2010s Surrealist Mixed Media
Mixed Media
2010s Surrealist Mixed Media
Gold Leaf
2010s Surrealist Mixed Media
Mixed Media
1960s Surrealist Mixed Media
Paper, Board
2010s Surrealist Mixed Media
Mixed Media, Archival Paper
2010s Surrealist Mixed Media
Mixed Media
1990s Surrealist Mixed Media
Paper, Mixed Media, Monotype
2010s Surrealist Mixed Media
Mixed Media
2010s Surrealist Mixed Media
Foil
2010s Surrealist Mixed Media
Clay, Canvas, Thread, Paper, Oil Pastel, Glitter, Acrylic
2010s Surrealist Mixed Media
Mixed Media
2010s Surrealist Mixed Media
Paper, Glitter, Acrylic
2010s Surrealist Mixed Media
Fabric, Canvas, Wood, Paper, Acrylic
2010s Surrealist Mixed Media
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2010s Surrealist Mixed Media
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1990s Surrealist Mixed Media
Mixed Media
2010s Surrealist Mixed Media
Mixed Media
2010s Surrealist Mixed Media
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2010s Surrealist Mixed Media
Mixed Media
2010s Surrealist Mixed Media
Mixed Media
1960s Surrealist Mixed Media
Paper, Watercolor, Drypoint, Etching
1990s Surrealist Mixed Media
Paper, Mixed Media, Photographic Paper, Graphite
2010s Surrealist Mixed Media
Mixed Media, Archival Paper
2010s Surrealist Mixed Media
Mixed Media
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Mixed Media
Mixed Media
2010s Surrealist Mixed Media
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1940s Surrealist Mixed Media
Archival Paper, Magazine Paper
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Mixed Media
Mixed Media
2010s Surrealist Mixed Media
Pastel, Found Objects, Acrylic, Pencil
2010s Surrealist Mixed Media
Paper, Color Pencil
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Mixed Media
Mixed Media
2010s Surrealist Mixed Media
Mixed Media
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Mixed Media
Paper, Monoprint
1990s Surrealist Mixed Media
Canvas, Mixed Media
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Mixed Media
Spray Paint, Screen
1990s Surrealist Mixed Media
Mixed Media, Cardboard
1990s Surrealist Mixed Media
Mixed Media, Cardboard
1990s Surrealist Mixed Media
Mixed Media, Cardboard
1990s Surrealist Mixed Media
Mixed Media, Cardboard
2010s Surrealist Mixed Media
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2010s Surrealist Mixed Media
Mixed Media
2010s Surrealist Mixed Media
Mixed Media
2010s Surrealist Mixed Media
Paper, Mixed Media
2010s Surrealist Mixed Media
Watercolor, Color Pencil, Graphite
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Mixed Media
Enamel
1930s Surrealist Mixed Media
Mixed Media





