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Surrealist Photography

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
Period: 1950s
In Voluptas Mors (Dalí)
Located in Dallas, TX
In 1951, Salvador Dali, everyone's favorite mustachioed surrealist, teamed up with Magnum photographer Philippe Halsman to create one of the most enchanting, morbid and bizarre photo...
Category

1950s Surrealist Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Man Playing his Favorite Instrument
Located in Dallas, TX
Signed and dated.
Category

1950s Surrealist Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Salvador Dali's Party, Estate Edition Photograph [Surrealist Dinner, Green+Red]
Located in Los Angeles, CA
1959: Surrealist painter Salvador Dali (1904 - 1989) with a red-haired woman in a green dress at a vintage ball in New York. The artist is captured with his characteristic walking st...
Category

1950s Surrealist Photography

Materials

Lambda

'Dali's Party, ' Estate Edition, ft Surrealist Salvador Dali in New York
Located in Los Angeles, CA
1959: Surrealist painter Salvador Dali (1904 - 1989) with a red-haired woman in a green dress at a vintage ball in New York. The artist is captured with his characteristic walking st...
Category

1950s Surrealist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Salvador Dali's Party, Estate Edition Photograph [Surrealist Dinner, Green+Red]
Located in Los Angeles, CA
1959: Surrealist painter Salvador Dali (1904 - 1989) with a red-haired woman in a green dress at a vintage ball in New York. The artist is captured with his characteristic walking st...
Category

1950s Surrealist Photography

Materials

Lambda

The Essence of Dali
Located in Buffalo, NY
The work offered for sale here is an original vintage silver gelatin print hand created by Halsman hand signed and exhibited at the International Center for Photography. Philippe Halsman was at one point considered the best photo-portraitist in France. He had an incessant interest in faces: “Every face I see seems to hide—and sometimes fleetingly reveal—the mystery of another human being.” Halsman’s photographs of politicians, celebrities, and intellectuals were featured widely in magazines like LIFE and Vogue. His more famous subjects included the likes of Marc Chagall, Le Corbusier, Audrey Hepburn, and Albert Einstein. He also had a 37-year collaboration with Salvador Dalí, which resulted in several famous surrealist series including the “Dalí’s Mustache” portraits...
Category

1950s Surrealist Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Dali Cyclops
Located in Buffalo, NY
The work offered for sale here is an original vintage silver gelatin print hand created by Halsman and used as the cover proof for the "Dali Mustache Book". Philippe Halsman was at one point considered the best photo-portraitist in France. He had an incessant interest in faces: “Every face I see seems to hide—and sometimes fleetingly reveal—the mystery of another human being.” Halsman’s photographs of politicians, celebrities, and intellectuals were featured widely in magazines like LIFE and Vogue. His more famous subjects included the likes of Marc Chagall, Le Corbusier, Audrey Hepburn, and Albert Einstein. He also had a 37-year collaboration with Salvador Dalí, which resulted in several famous surrealist series including the “Dalí’s Mustache” portraits...
Category

1950s Surrealist Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

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Surrealist photography for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Surrealist photography 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 photography created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of blue, red, orange, purple and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Mitchell Funk, Rosemary Ellis, Brian Ziff, and FPA Francis Pavy Artist. Frequently made by artists working with Paper, and Photographic Paper 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 photography, so small editions measuring 4.5 inches across are also available. Prices for photography 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 $110 and tops out at $28,800, while the average work sells for $1,750.

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