Surrealist 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
Dreamer (monkey gorilla iceberg arctic surrealist oil painting light blue)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
Superbe original painting on canvas depicting a gorilla in a contemplative state on top of an iceberg while a young woman next to him plays the guitar.
keywords; guitar playing woma...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Fantasy. 2010. Mixed media, collage on canvas, 100x70 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Fantasy. Mixed media, collage on canvas, 100x70 cm
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Mixed Media
Soulmate (white Swan Woman bather red green vintage surrealist oil painting)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
Soulmate is a superbe original painting on canvas depicting a woman bather next to a giant white Swan on a green lawn against an intense red sky.
keywords; white Swan, woman bather,...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Alti-Thronus, Surrealist Found Objects and Oil Paint Sculpture by Mihail Sorin
By Mihail Sorin
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Mihail Sorin
Title: Alti-Thronus
Year: 2000
Medium: Oil on Canvas with Wood Frame with Compass Tools
Size: 27.5 x 19.75 in. (69.85 x 50.17 cm)
Frame Size: 54 x 42.5 x 3 inches
Category
Early 2000s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Wood, Found Objects, Oil
Surrealist Ocean Painting, "Jellyfish Dreams"
Located in San Diego, CA
This is a one of a kind original oil on panel surrealist painting by San Diego artist, Kelley Sutphin. Its dimensions are 16"x20"x.75. It is unframed. A...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Wood Panel
WPA Magic Realism Oil Painting National Gallery MOMA Thornberg Female 1930's
Located in Buffalo, NY
An original oil on canvas by WPA era artist Cleo Sara Thornberg whose work is represented in the collections of the National Gallery, The MOMA, and The National Gallery.
This utterl...
Category
1930s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Carousel, Surrealist Oil Painting on Canvas by Richard Karwoski
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Richard Karwoski, American (1938 - 1993)
Title: Carousel
Year: circa 1975
Medium: Oil on Canvas, signed l.r.
Size: 44 in. x 60 in. (111.76 cm x 152.4 cm)
Category
1970s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Summer I. 1972, cardboard, mixed media, silk screen printing, 80x100 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Summer I. 1972, cardboard, mixed media, silk screen printing, 80x100 cm
Atis Ievins (1946)
The exhibition by artist Atis Ieviņš reminds the very origins of serigraphy technique in L...
Category
1970s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Mixed Media, Cardboard, Screen
Italian Surrealist Colorful Metal Enamel Plaque Painting Wall Hanging Art Luigi
Located in Surfside, FL
Biomorphic Surrealism.
Signed Luigi, Enamel on metal (probably copper). Mounted to a plexi or acrylic purple mounting. I am assuming it is Italian as it is signed Luigi but it might ...
Category
20th Century Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Enamel
HOMAGE TO THE CLASSICS
Located in Aventura, FL
Original oil painting on canvas. Hand signed on front by the artist. Canvas is stretched.
Artwork is in excellent condition. Certificate of authenticity included. All reasonable...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
French Contemporary Art By Helen Uter - El Cielo
By Helen Uter
Located in Paris, IDF
Oil on canvas with knife
Helen Uter is an established Franco-American painter born in 1955 who lives and works in Donnery, near Orléans, France. Heavily influenced by Edward Hopper...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Going Steady, Surreal Oil Painting by Shirley Kaplan circa 1964
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Shirley Kaplan, American
Title: Going Steady
Year: circa 1964
Medium: Oil on Canvas, signed lower right, titled verso
Size: 48 in. x 48 in. (121...
Category
1960s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Vanita. Abstract still life with scull. 2004, oil, collage on canvas, 100x120 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Vanita. 2004, oil, collage on canvas, 100x120 cm
In 1958 he graduated from the Riga Art School of J. Rosenthal, in 1964 Art Academy of Latvian State, paintin...
Category
Early 2000s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Gerard Tunney, Dancers on Tour, Original impressionistic painting
Located in Deddington, GB
Gerard Tunney.Dancers on tour.
Dancers on tour- two dancers enter a celestial dream world as they travel together on the ballet company’s’ world tour...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Gerard Tunney, Ten Myths Eros and lovers, Original figurative painting
Located in Deddington, GB
Eros the traditional symbols of love hovers over two lovers as they embrace at night. The painting is meant to suggest the idealised bliss of being in love
“Most of my work is influe...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Untitled. 2002, oil on wood, 57x17, 5 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Untitled. 2002, oil on wood, 57x17,5 cm
Man face on red background with flower
Kaspars Perskis (1975)
was born in Riga, Latvia. This is where he stud...
Category
Early 2000s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Wood
"One Hundred Years" Oil painting
Located in Denver, CO
Austin Howlett's "One Hundred Years" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts a larger than life woman reclining in a landscape of mountains. ...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Panel
Disk Shelf II, Magritte-like Surreal Painting by Backstrom aka Beck & Jung
Located in Long Island City, NY
An oil painting by Holger Bäckström from 1979. A mixed media painting produced by Beck & Jung, a collaborative duo between Holger Bäckström and Bo Ljungberg in the 1960's-70's. Their...
Category
1970s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Acrylic
Universal Force, Surrealist Pop Art Painting by Michael Knigin
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Michael Knigin, American (1942 - 2011)
Title: Universal Force
Year: 1990
Medium: Acrylic on canvas on board, signed and dated in pencil
Size: 3...
Category
1990s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Acrylic, Board
Untitled
Located in Hollywood, FL
Artist: Matija Bobicic
Title: Untitled
Size: 23 x 29 Inches (Framed: 24.5 x 30.5 inches)
Medium: Acrylic on Canvas
Edition: Original
Year: 2018
Not...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Acrylic
Figurative Surrealism, "Tara Goddess of Love and Compassion"
Located in San Diego, CA
This is a pre-owned secondary market painting by Gloria Muriel. It is a framed figurative surrealist painting made with acrylic paint on canvas. Its dimensions are 9.5 x 13.5 in (L x...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Acrylic
"Migration" Colorful Contemporary Surrealist City Landscape Painting
Located in Houston, TX
Colorful surrealist landscape painting by contemporary Texas artist Henry David Potwin. The work features a group of tanks moving from one side of the city to the other. Signed in fr...
Category
Early 2000s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Innocentia, Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
Allegorical portrait. :: Painting :: Surrealism :: This piece comes with an official certificate of authenticity signed by the artist :: Ready to ...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
"A Forgone Conclusion, " Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
David Cheifetz's "A Forgone Conclusion" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts a sloping yellow hill of a park dotted with people as the city in the background is confron...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Colorful Surreal Abstract Expressionist Painting of a Macabre Group of Clowns
Located in Houston, TX
Surreal abstract expressionist painting of a group of clowns in the style of Belgian painter James Ensor. Combining the macabre with the playful, the work features distorted clowns a...
Category
1990s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Tempera
Surrealist Mixed Media Artwork, "Beatrice"
By Cheryl Tall
Located in San Diego, CA
This is an original mixed media artwork by Southern California artist, Cheryl Tall. Its dimensions are 12" x 12" x .75". It is unframed. A certific...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Mixed Media
Unaici e Quarantahue (Clock on Three Books), Painting by Pietro Bulloni
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Pietro Bulloni
Title: Unaici e Quarantahue (Clock on Three Books)
Year: 2003
Medium: Oil on Canvas, signed ll
Size: 12 x 10 inches
Frame Size: 17 x 15 inches
Category
Early 2000s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Scurrula, Surrealist Mixed Media and Found Objects on Canvas by Mihail Sorin
By Mihail Sorin
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Mihail Sorin
Title: Scurrula
Year: 2000
Medium: Oil on Canvas with Wood Frame with Magnifying Glass
Size: 23.5 x 19.75 in. (59.69 x 50.17 cm)
Interior Frame Size: 54 x 42.5 x...
Category
Early 2000s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Found Objects, Canvas, Wood, Oil
We are all playing theater
Located in BARCELONA, ES
This painting explores how human conversations are like performing on a stage, with the curtains symbolizing the theater of life. The eyes in this case represent our constant search ...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Fate Challenge II (lady climber art forbidden apple snake brown earth tones
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
In "Fate challenge II“ a mountaineer is eagerly climbing a steep rocky promontory, hoping to get the sweetest fruit, an apple, and take a bite out of it. Although, she is completely ...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Arabian Night, Stylised, Bright Colours, Oil Painting, Signed
By Kate Orr
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Arabian Night, Stylised, Bright Colours, Oil Painting, Signed
By British artist, Kate Orr, 20th Century
Signed by the artist verso
Oil painting on board, framed
Framed size: 23 x 31 ...
Category
Late 20th Century Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Waves of Fish No.2, Surrealist Abstract Oil Painting, Signed
By Kate Orr
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Waves of Fish No.2, Surrealist Abstract Oil Painting, Signed
By British artist, Kate Orr, 20th Century
Signed by the artist on the lower right hand corner
Signed and titled by the ar...
Category
Late 20th Century Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Qiang Li Still Life Original Oil On Canvas "Comedy 3"
Located in New York, NY
Title: Comedy 3
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 27 x 23 inches
Frame: Framing options available!
Year: 2000 Circa
Artist: Qiang Li
Signature: Unsigned
Signature Location: N/A
...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Scrappy (car wreck girl yellow dress toy surrealism scale nostalgia vintage)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
keywords; surrealism, humour, uncanny, yellow dress, little girl, car wreck, car incident, earth tones, oil painting, figurative painting, strangeness, conte...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Man in a wicker chair
Located in Cliffside Park, NJ
Natalya Nesterova has created her own enormous world and has found her own angle of vision in the reality that surrounds us. As an artist, she sees this world in a way that we cannot. The air of mystery permeates Nesterova's works; the surrealistic impulse is definitely present in her paintings. But neither it or any other terminologically defined influence predominates over the freedom and talent of the personality in choosing an independent style and organization of creative ideas. Natalya Nesterova is recognized as one of the most important and internationally acclaimed contemporary Russian artists.
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Surrealist Crucifixion
By Kate Orr
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
The Crucifixion
by Kate Orr (British 20th century)
signed lower corner, circa 1990's
oil painting on canvas, framed
framed: 31 x 25 inches
Superbly painted, Modern British oil pain...
Category
Late 20th Century Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
"Unzipped" Contemporary Pastel Blue Toned Risqué Surrealist Painting
Located in Houston, TX
Pastel blue-toned surrealist painting done by artist Henry David Potwin. This work features an enlarged unzipped zipper acting as a woman's genital parts. Signed at bottom left corner. Titled and dated on reverse. Currently unframed, but options are available.
Artist Biography: Born in Dallas, Texas David Potwin is the oldest of three children. He first started to paint at the age of 8 years old. As a young boy, Potwin's family would summer vacation in Taos, New Mexico. During the family vacations in 1965, he met artist Eric Gibberd...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Circular butterfly, Painting, Oil on Paper
Located in Yardley, PA
An original piece from the series "Please do not kill butterflies", pins, oil and pencil on paper (mounted on a wood panel), 35 x 30 cm, 2018. Please, all these dead animals ...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
City birds. 2014. Oil on canvas, 80x100 cm
Located in Riga, LV
City birds. 2014. Oil on canvas, 80x100 cm
The artist Vadim Kovalev was born in 1968 in the capital of Latvia, Riga, where he is also presently living ...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Surrealist Figurative Encaustic Painting, "Shell Game"
Located in San Diego, CA
This is a one of a kind original surrealist figurative encaustic wax painting by San Diego artist, Tiffany Bociek. It's dimensions are 11"x11"x1.25. It ...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Thread, Encaustic, Oil, Rice Paper
“Mssr. Violette” Pink, Purple, and Grey Abstract Aristocratic Figure Painting
Located in Houston, TX
Pink, purple, and grey surrealist figurative portrait painting by contemporary Houston artist Scott Woodard. The work features an abstract woman figure wearing an aristocratic dress ...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Surrealist Woman Oil painting French-Moroccan Israeli Bezalel School Painter
Located in Surfside, FL
Two Women. Colorful Surrealist Portrait
Genre: Surrealism
Subject: woman
Medium: Oil
Surface: Canvas
Country: Israel
Simon Avissar, painter, born 1948, Morocco. Moved to U.S.A. Wo...
Category
20th Century Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Busy (vintage ladies woman lingerie 3D oil painting paper branches surrealist)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
Busy is a tridimensional original painting on paper on branches depicting tailor ladies working taking body measurements along a path in a dark night.
keywords; vintage tailor ladi...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Driftwood, Oil, Laid Paper
Hermits (blue butterfly Woman vintage lingerie surrealist oil painting sculpture
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
Hermits is a tridimensional original painting on paper on branches depicting a woman next to a giant butterfly along a path in a dark night.
keywords; butterfly, woman, lingerie, americana...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Driftwood, Laid Paper
Untitled Surrealist Mythical Portrait
By Bob Camblin
Located in Houston, TX
Abstract Surrealist ink and gouache drawing of a human and deer hybrid head sitting within a jar. The work is signed by the artist in the bottom corner. The work is framed in a silve...
Category
20th Century Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Ink, Gouache
It's just like that (fly blue sky vintage men americana surrealist oil painting)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
Superbe original painting on canvas depicting an oversized fly as an enigma in a clear bue sky above a perplexed group of men.
keywords; americana, surrealism, fly, vintage, oil painting, men figurative painting...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Wings of Fascism - Oil on Canvas - Contemporary Painting
Located in New York, NY
This painting is artwork of Patrick Faure, Creator of Faurism. The painting is unframed, oil on canvas.
About the Artwork:
Wings of Fascism is a perfect example of Faurism, a styl...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
"Life in a Bottle" Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Sybiline's (CAN based) "Life in a Bottle" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts pink Peonies blooming in a green vase as a pink butterfly swirls around the petals dreami...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Panel
Leaf and couple (yellow oil painting vintage black and white Picture couple)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
LEAF AND COUPLE is a superbe and vivid original painting on canvas depicting a still life of a fall leaf next to a vintage black and white photograph of a couple in a tender brace.
...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Yemaya Desembarcar, colorful mythic woman in ocean seascape at beach
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Large mythic seascape painting of woman in blue evening gown at the beach
Mr. Basso's work is known for ironic, fantastic, and clever narrative elem...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
French Contemporary Art By Helen Uter - Louvre
By Helen Uter
Located in Paris, IDF
Oil on canvas,
Helen Uter is an established Franco-American painter born in 1955 who lives and works in Donnery, near Orléans, France. Heavily influenced by Edward Hopper, she crea...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
"Skyraft, " Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Gregory Block's (US based) "Skyraft" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts wooden debris floating in an expansive skyscape.
Gregory was born in Kansas City, Missouri, ...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Canvas
324 The red devil, Painting, Oil on Canvas
By Andres Vivo
Located in Yardley, PA
Belongs to my art works of the 90´s . Inspired by the obscure,tragical and dramatic artworks of the spanish master Francisco Goya. :: Painting :: Surrealism :: This piece comes with...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
"Circus Dreams" Large Surreal Black and Blue Toned Dancing Performers Painting
By Doug Whitfield
Located in Houston, TX
Surreal abstract painting by contemporary artist Doug Whitfield. The work features various dancing performers flanked by an elephant and a central sphin...
Category
Late 20th Century Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
El Llano en Llamar, Acrylic and Watercolor Painting by J. Benito Zamora
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: J. Benito Zamora, Mexican (1951 - )
Title: El Llano en Llamar
Year: 1986
Medium: Acrylic and Watercolor on paper, signed l.r.
Size: 22 in. x 30 i...
Category
1980s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Acrylic, Watercolor
A Tribute To Prince The last Stage Call, Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
This painting was done as my tribute to the musical artist know as Prince. He was one of the best musicians that ever lived as well as an excellent stage performer. He was a very pro...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
"Conocimientos" Unframed Contemporary Surrealist Desert Landscape with Cacti
Located in Houston, TX
Colorful whimsical abstract contemporary painting by Houston, TX artist Moisés Villafuerte. The work features a surreal collection of items including a large sculpture of a head, an ...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Astro Diver
Located in Atlanta, GA
"Jeni Stallings creates work that often draws from her dreams and personal experiences. She tends to render those moments in a muted, femininity-infused surrealism far from the hard-...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Archival Paper
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.