Surrealist Animal 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.
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Pen, Archival Paper, Paint, Mixed Media
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Egg Tempera, Illustration Board
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Oil, Canvas
20th Century Surrealist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Oil
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Archival Ink, Oil
Early 2000s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Animal Paintings
Linen, Oil
1990s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1960s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Oil, Linen
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Artist Comments
"This painting is a part of both my Tarot series and my Power Bison series," shares artist Rachel Srinivasan. "In tarot, the two of swords is about decisions,...
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Animal Paintings
Oil
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
20th Century Surrealist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1980s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Acrylic
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Oil, Panel
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Panel, Oil
Artist Comments
A surreal portrait of a jaguar overlaid with a glowing peony. "She moves unapologetically through space, through water, through the land," says artist Miranda...
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Animal Paintings
Oil
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Artist Comments
"A swimmer encounters a lobster," explains artist Diana Rosa. "Nature is my biggest inspiration, and how humans interact with land, animals, and each other." ...
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Animal Paintings
Acrylic
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Archival Paper, Watercolor
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Oil, Canvas
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Oil, Canvas
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Animal Paintings
Gold Leaf
Artist Comments
Part of a series of biomorphic portraits mixing elements of realism and fantasy, and surrealism and folk art. Artist Diana Rosa says she combined 50 percent man with 50 percent crocodile, playing up the patterns and shapes reminiscent of nature and wild organisms.
About the Artist
Lighthearted and jovial by nature, Diana’s contemporary paintings depict people in varied scenarios of indulgence. Whether it is a quiet moment alone in the woods, or a tantalizing rendezvous in the tub, Diana creates private moments in carefree or comedic ways. Her narratives often include humorous sexual tension between unlikely bedfellows, enough to elicit a chuckle from even the most stoic art lover. “I create a visual dialogue where everything is possible and magic is the queen,” says Diana. “[There is] a subtle injection of ambiguity that blurs the gap between the ordinary and the fantastic. The background of this sub-world appears to be transformed into an innocent children’s fantasy that almost looks like a dream.”
Words that describe this painting: head, face, animal, human, portrait, mask, crocodile, man, folk, primitive, outsider, naive, Picasso, animals, surrealism, representational, primitive, acrylic painting, green
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Animal Paintings
Acrylic
Early 2000s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Oil, Canvas
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Oil, Panel
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Oil, Panel
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Oil, Canvas
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Oil, Canvas
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Oil, Panel
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Gold Leaf
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Oil, Panel
2010s Surrealist Animal Paintings
Gold Leaf
