Surrealist More Art
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.
1930s Surrealist More Art
Paper
1940s Surrealist More Art
Paper, Photogravure
1990s Surrealist More Art
Porcelain
20th Century Surrealist More Art
Enamel
20th Century Surrealist More Art
Lithograph
20th Century Surrealist More Art
Lithograph
20th Century Surrealist More Art
Lithograph
20th Century Surrealist More Art
Lithograph
20th Century Surrealist More Art
Lithograph
20th Century Surrealist More Art
Lithograph
1930s Surrealist More Art
Photogravure, Paper
20th Century Surrealist More Art
Lithograph
20th Century Surrealist More Art
Lithograph
1980s Surrealist More Art
Tapestry
1970s Surrealist More Art
Paint, Paper, Mixed Media
20th Century Surrealist More Art
Lithograph
1940s Surrealist More Art
Paper, Mixed Media
1940s Surrealist More Art
Paper, Mixed Media
1940s Surrealist More Art
Photogravure
1940s Surrealist More Art
Photogravure, Paper
1940s Surrealist More Art
Paper
1920s Surrealist More Art
Mixed Media, Paper
20th Century Surrealist More Art
Lithograph
1940s Surrealist More Art
Photogravure, Paper
1950s Surrealist More Art
Paper
1940s Surrealist More Art
Paper
1950s Surrealist More Art
Paper
1960s Surrealist More Art
Permanent Marker
1920s Surrealist More Art
Paper, Photogravure
1930s Surrealist More Art
Paper, Mixed Media
1920s Surrealist More Art
Paper, Etching
1960s Surrealist More Art
Paper
1960s Surrealist More Art
Paper, Etching
1970s Surrealist More Art
Etching, Paper
1970s Surrealist More Art
Lithograph
1920s Surrealist More Art
Photogravure, Paper
1920s Surrealist More Art
Paper, Photogravure
1950s Surrealist More Art
Paper
Mid-20th Century Surrealist More Art
Canvas, Oil
1920s Surrealist More Art
Etching
1950s Surrealist More Art
Paper
1960s Surrealist More Art
Paper, Lithograph
1970s Surrealist More Art
Porcelain
1930s Surrealist More Art
Paper, Engraving
1910s Surrealist More Art
Paper
1930s Surrealist More Art
Oil
1950s Surrealist More Art
Paper
1960s Surrealist More Art
Clay
1950s Surrealist More Art
Etching
1950s Surrealist More Art
Clay
1920s Surrealist More Art
Etching
1930s Surrealist More Art
Handmade Paper
20th Century Surrealist More Art
Color
20th Century Surrealist More Art
Color
1980s Surrealist More Art
Paper, Ink, Mixed Media, Lithograph, Offset
20th Century Surrealist More Art
Lithograph
1960s Surrealist More Art
Gold, Bronze
1960s Surrealist More Art
Gold, Bronze