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Surrealist Paintings

2,644 Results
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
Vintage American Modernist Surreal Abstract Figural Signed Framed Oil Painting
Vintage American Modernist Surreal Abstract Figural Signed Framed Oil Painting

Vintage American Modernist Surreal Abstract Figural Signed Framed Oil Painting

Located in Buffalo, NY

Vintage American modernist surreal figural painting. Oil on canvas. Signed. Framed. Provenance from a Sag Harbor, NY collection. Measuring: 23 by 29 inches overall. Handsomely frame...

Category

1960s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Tramp (pet dog, beagle, troubadour guitare, animal portrait, surrealist painting
Tramp (pet dog, beagle, troubadour guitare, animal portrait, surrealist painting

Tramp (pet dog, beagle, troubadour guitare, animal portrait, surrealist painting

By Rudolf Kosow

Located in Quebec, Quebec

"Tramp," by Rudolf Kosow, is a whimsical painting that delights in its surreal juxtaposition of scale and serenity. At the center is a beagle's face, depicted with lifelike detail and expressiveness, eyes glistening with a calm intelligence that beckons the viewer into a state of contemplation. Positioned against the backdrop of the dog's vast visage, a small, solitary figure strums a guitar. The musician, dressed in casual attire, appears as a wandering troubadour, his music resonating with the quietude of the scene. This miniature man, though diminutive in size, plays a significant role in the narrative, providing a sense of companionship and shared experience. The painting's title, "Tramp," suggests a free spirit, both in the itinerant musician and the beagle, known for its adventurous and exploratory nature. Kosow's piece is an ode to the wandering souls and the moments of unexpected harmony they encounter. Through "Tramp," we are reminded of the melodies that score our journeys and the silent kinship we find along the way. It is an invitation to embrace the music of life, to find connection in the tranquility of existence, and to acknowledge the symphonies that unfold in the presence of kindred spirits, regardless of their size or form. keywords; painting on canvas, surrealist painting, animal vs human, americana, nature, man, man vs nature, surrealism, giant animal...

Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

The Memory of Flowers
The Memory of Flowers

The Memory of Flowers

Located in Zofingen, AG

Some feelings never fade away. They simply change form. One day, melancholy ceases to be a burden and transforms into a blossoming—quiet, almost imperceptible. Then memory no longer ...

Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Turtle (Comanche Native American surrealist painting)
Turtle (Comanche Native American surrealist painting)

Turtle (Comanche Native American surrealist painting)

Located in Wilton Manors, FL

Turtle, ca. 1975-80. Gouache on Arches rag paper, Sheet measures 23 x 30 inches. Image measures 22 x 29 inches. Signed lower left. Excellent condition. Unframed.

Category

1970s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Gouache, Rag Paper

Road Less Traveled Hawaii Surrealist Mid Century Figurative Abstract Landscape
Road Less Traveled Hawaii Surrealist Mid Century Figurative Abstract Landscape

Road Less Traveled Hawaii Surrealist Mid Century Figurative Abstract Landscape

By Marguerite Blasingame

Located in Soquel, CA

Road Less Traveled Hawaii Surrealist Mid Century Figurative Abstract Landscape Symbolistic and romantic Surrealist 1940s figurative abstract landscape with a figure journeying down a path in an idyllic landscape by Marguerite Louis Blasingame circa 1940-45. Signed Blasingame lower right corner; from a collection of her work. Unframed. Condition: Excellent; professionally cleaned and UV varnished. Image, 30"H x 20"W. Marguerite and her husband Frank Blasingame...

Category

1940s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Linen

1970’s French Surrealist Signed Oil Painting Abstract Cubist Shapes Patterns
1970’s French Surrealist Signed Oil Painting Abstract Cubist Shapes Patterns

1970’s French Surrealist Signed Oil Painting Abstract Cubist Shapes Patterns

Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire

Tristan Fabris 1970's, French Surrealist artist Abstract Surrealist Figurative study signed & dated oil on canvas, unframed inscribed verso canvas: 32 x 25.5 inches private collectio...

Category

Late 20th Century Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Spirit of 76

Spirit of 76

By Martha Hamlin Visser't Hooft

Located in Buffalo, NY

A whimsical gouache painting by American female surrealist Martha Visser't Hooft depicting a butterfly in a patriotic color scheme. Martha Visser't Hooft was born in Buffalo in 19...

Category

1970s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Archival Paper, Gouache

Algun Dia - figurative painting, landscape painting
Algun Dia - figurative painting, landscape painting

Algun Dia - figurative painting, landscape painting

By Mauricio Vergara

Located in New York, NY

This beautiful surrealist painting by Mauricio comes rolled in a tube and needs to be stretched when received. In his pieces, Mauricio combines his figurative expertise along with su...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Texas In Fuschia - Vibrant Architectural Colorful Landscape Mixed Media Collage
Texas In Fuschia - Vibrant Architectural Colorful Landscape Mixed Media Collage

Texas In Fuschia - Vibrant Architectural Colorful Landscape Mixed Media Collage

By Maria C. Bernhardsson

Located in Los Angeles, CA

Maria C. Bernhardsson is a colorful artist who lives and paints in Sweden. Most of her works are influenced by the architecture and geometry of houses. Bernhardsson travels the world...

Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Paper, Mixed Media

Noah's ark. By Sergej Malishevsky. 2004. Oil on canvas. 70/85 cm
Noah's ark. By Sergej Malishevsky. 2004. Oil on canvas. 70/85 cm

Noah's ark. By Sergej Malishevsky. 2004. Oil on canvas. 70/85 cm

Located in Riga, LV

Sergei Malishevsky (1956–2020) was a Belarusian painter renowned for his distinctive surrealist style and vivid artistic voice. He was in Moscow to Algirdas Malishevsky, the eminent ...

Category

Early 2000s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Surreal Landscape by Italian Artist Lanfranco Finocchioli
Surreal Landscape by Italian Artist Lanfranco Finocchioli

Surreal Landscape by Italian Artist Lanfranco Finocchioli

Located in New York, NY

Lanfranco Finocchioli (Italian, b. 20th century) Sognando Capri (Dreaming of Capri), 2003 Oil on canvas 13 3/4 x 19 5/8 in. Framed: 19 1/4 x 23 1/4 x 1 1/8 in. Signed and dated lower...

Category

Early 2000s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Resistance of the earth
Resistance of the earth

Resistance of the earth

By Tetiana Borys

Located in Zofingen, AG

This painting belongs to the series of paintings "Blue." Long before 2022, a process of spiritual transformation took place in my life, in particular, a rethinking of the feminine pr...

Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Acrylic, Archival Paper

Blue Sky Village - Abstract Colorful Architectural Landscape Painting on Canvas
Blue Sky Village - Abstract Colorful Architectural Landscape Painting on Canvas

Blue Sky Village - Abstract Colorful Architectural Landscape Painting on Canvas

By Maria C. Bernhardsson

Located in Los Angeles, CA

Maria C Bernhardsson's original artworks are influenced by the architecture and geometry of houses. Born in Sweden, Bernhardsson travels the world photographing and sketching houses ...

Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Dancing Lovers
Dancing Lovers

Dancing Lovers

Located in Zofingen, AG

In this oil painting, I've blended abstract, figurative, and surreal elements to capture the fluid motion and raw emotion of an intimate dance. The intertwining forms, awash in shade...

Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil

"Studio Gothic" (2025) Oil Painting on Panel
"Studio Gothic" (2025) Oil Painting on Panel

"Studio Gothic" (2025) Oil Painting on Panel

By Heather Neill

Located in Denver, CO

This incredible photorealist oil painting by renowned American painter Heather Neill is framed at 33 x 21 inches, and is ready to hang. Artist Autobiography: Born in Honolulu, Hawai...

Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Panel

Woman In The Chair
Woman In The Chair

Woman In The Chair

By Elisabeth Sabala

Located in Lake Worth Beach, FL

Woman in the chair, heavy oil impasto on canvas framed. Elisabeth Sabala Abelló (Barcelona, 1956). She studied industrial design at the School of Arts and Crafts in Barcelona ​​and has a degree in Fine Arts, a specialty in painting, from the Central University of the same city. Sabala is a convinced figurative who has given all the prominence of her work to the representation of the human being in its most trivial aspects. At a time when the artistic landscape extols abstract and conceptual art focused on the great universal themes, Sabala continues to focus on the small defects that bring us closer to the collective and the human. The artistic progression of Sabala takes place, at first, from a bleak period to another vitalist and, later, from the representation of isolated characters (In the super, Reading the stories of the paintings) to the recreation of great concentrations of its peculiar individuals characterized in an endless number of situations (The Great Dance, The Girls of the Choir). Sabala's work is vital and touching, as well as scathing and satirical: it confronts its characters in the most varied situations, capturing, at the same time, the viewer's attention with an unusual juxtaposition of colors that do not seek chromatic harmony, but expression and movement through matter. In 1980 he won the first prize of a painting of the City of Castelldefels, and the following year he debuted individually in the Caixa Catalunya room, in Barcelona. In 1984, she was selected for the XXIII Joan Miró Drawing Prize, taking part in a traveling exhibition in Japan. Sabala won the first prize in the International Painting Competition of Pollença (Mallorca) in 1985, and the following year she took part in a collective held at the Martano gallery in Turin. That same year of 1986 she obtained the Scholarship of Plastic Arts of the Generalitat de Catalunya. He continues to hold personal shows in Barcelona, ​​Mallorca, Madrid, and Italy, and in 1989 he debuted in New York with an individual exhibition held at the Scott Alan Gallery. Since then she will reiterate his presence both in that city and in Paris, Berlin, Monaco, Amsterdam, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Hong Kong, etc. His works have been present at Interactive, ARCO, Art Forum, Art Jonction and New Art, as well as in various Spanish museums. • Studies: Fine Arts, University of Barcelona • Industrial Design, School of Arts and Crafts, Barcelona Main exhibitions Spain: • Barcelona: ◦ Arcs & Cracks, 1990, 1992, Anna Benach 1993, Helena Ramos 1993 ◦ Maria Jose Castellvi 1996, 1997, 1999, 2001 “a wedding is a wedding” + Performance “Ella” ◦ 2004, 2006 “Fashion satisfaction” + Performance ◦ 2008 “Women's weapons” • Girona: ◦ Helena Ramos 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995 ◦ Cyprus Art...

Category

1980s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Cotton Canvas, Oil

Surrealist Mineral Landscape Spanish Catalan Oil Canvas Painting Dalí Circle art
Surrealist Mineral Landscape Spanish Catalan Oil Canvas Painting Dalí Circle art

Surrealist Mineral Landscape Spanish Catalan Oil Canvas Painting Dalí Circle art

By Antoni Pitxot

Located in Sitges, Barcelona

Dalí Circle Surrealist Mineral Landscape, Spanish Catalan Oil Painting Artist: Antoni Pitxot Soler / Antoni Pichot Soler (Figueres, 1934 – 2015) Title: Surrealist Mineral Landscape Date: 1985 Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 50 × 61 cm / 19.7 × 24 in Framing: Unframed Signature: Signed and dated lower right Condition: Very good overall condition. Stable canvas and paint layer. Rich surface texture, visible impasto and original brushwork. Description Powerful surrealist oil painting by Antoni Pitxot Soler, one of the most important Catalan artists connected to Salvador Dalí’s inner circle and a key figure in the visual universe of Cadaqués and Figueres. Painted in 1985, this work belongs to Pitxot’s mature period and presents one of his most recognizable subjects: a dreamlike mineral landscape built from stones, fragments, shells, fossil-like forms and metamorphic shapes. The composition seems suspended between landscape, archaeology and hallucination, where inert matter becomes almost alive. The painting is especially strong visually. The lower section is constructed through a dense accumulation of sculptural forms, painted with thick, expressive brushwork and a refined chromatic range of blues, ochres, pinks, whites, greys and earthy tones. Above them, a floating organic form...

Category

1980s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil

Vintage Still Life Painting with Kitten by Alfano Dardari
Vintage Still Life Painting with Kitten by Alfano Dardari

Vintage Still Life Painting with Kitten by Alfano Dardari

Located in Palm Beach, FL

Lofty still life oil painting on canvas of a table top with household items and a kitten, using shadows for a Trompe L'oeil effect. Signed Alfano Dardari and presented in a grassclot...

Category

20th Century Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Sea Shanty, Oil Painting
Sea Shanty, Oil Painting

Sea Shanty, Oil Painting

By Keith Thomson

Located in San Francisco, CA

Artist Comments
The surrealist painting depicts a pirate and a mermaid sitting at a dimly lit bar. Glowing bottles and deep green walls surround the pair. He offers to buy her ...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil

Six Birds
Six Birds

Six Birds

Located in San Francisco, CA

This artwork "Six Birds" c.1990, is an acrylic painting on canvas by Mexican artist Gustavo Martinez, b.1941. It is signed at the lower left corner by the artist. The canvas size is ...

Category

Late 20th Century Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

A source - XXI Century, Contemporary Acrylic Architecture Painting, Colorful
A source - XXI Century, Contemporary Acrylic Architecture Painting, Colorful

A source - XXI Century, Contemporary Acrylic Architecture Painting, Colorful

By Marta Rynkiewicz

Located in Warsaw, PL

Marta Rynkiewicz is a young Polish artist born in 1983. She studied painting with Professor Henryk Czenik and graphic arts with Professor Jerzy Krechowicz, at the Faculty of Paintin...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

In Memory of Dante Figurative Surrealism Original oil Painting
In Memory of Dante Figurative Surrealism Original oil Painting

In Memory of Dante Figurative Surrealism Original oil Painting

By Ashot Yan

Located in Granada Hills, CA

Figurative Surrealism Original Painting Artist: Ashot Yan Work: Original Oil Painting, Handmade Artwork, One of a Kind Medium: Oil on Linen, Year: 2023 Style: Portrait Surrealism, T...

Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Feros "Escape from Reality" Large Surrealist Dreamlike Landscape Painting
Feros "Escape from Reality" Large Surrealist Dreamlike Landscape Painting

Feros "Escape from Reality" Large Surrealist Dreamlike Landscape Painting

By FEROS

Located in Los Angeles, CA

Escape from Reality is a monumental original acrylic and spray painting on canvas by contemporary Ukrainian artist Feros. Measuring 55 × 76 inches, this large-scale surrealist work i...

Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Signed Oil Painting Cadaqués 2001 – Organic Surreal Composition on Cardboard
Signed Oil Painting Cadaqués 2001 – Organic Surreal Composition on Cardboard

Signed Oil Painting Cadaqués 2001 – Organic Surreal Composition on Cardboard

By Antoni Pitxot

Located in Sitges, Barcelona

Artist: Antoni Pitxot Title: Untitled (Cadaqués, 2001) Medium: Oil on cardboard Dimensions: 23 × 17 cm (9.05 × 6.69 in) Framing: Unframed Signature: Signed “Pitxot 01” upper right In...

Category

Early 2000s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil

Strategy
Strategy

Strategy

By Alisa Leonets

Located in Zofingen, AG

Strategy (series “1000 and 1 Night”) In this work, the theme of falling in love shifts into the realm of power and control. The space is constructed like a game board, where movement...

Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Surrealist paintings for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Surrealist 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 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, green and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Elvic Steele, Rudolf Kosow, Isabel Rock, and Henry David Potwin. Frequently made by artists working with Paint, and Oil 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 paintings, so small editions measuring 2 inches across are also available. Prices for 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 $1 and tops out at $400,000, while the average work sells for $2,999.