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Surrealist Art

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
René Magritte - DÉCALCOMANIE, 1966 Limited ed. Lithograph. Surrealism French
René Magritte - DÉCALCOMANIE, 1966 Limited ed. Lithograph. Surrealism French

René Magritte - DÉCALCOMANIE, 1966 Limited ed. Lithograph. Surrealism French

By (after) René Magritte

Located in Madrid, Madrid

René Magritte - DÉCALCOMANIE, 1966 (DECALCOMANIA) Date of creation: 2010 Medium: Lithograph on BFK Rives Paper Edition: 275 Size: 60 x 45 cm Condition: In mint conditions, brand new...

Category

Mid-20th Century Surrealist Art

Materials

Paper, Lithograph

Códice Miguelito III, Surrealist Style, Framed, 2010+
Códice Miguelito III, Surrealist Style, Framed, 2010+

Códice Miguelito III, Surrealist Style, Framed, 2010+

By Pedro Friedeberg

Located in Cuauhtemoc, Ciudad de México

-Pedro Friedeberg signed print featuring a fantastical architectural scene inspired by “Mickey”. Includes whimsical figures, optical art elements, and surreal details. framed in a ha...

Category

2010s Surrealist Art

Materials

Giclée

Musicians. By Constantin Selihanov. Bronze.
Musicians. By Constantin Selihanov. Bronze.

Musicians. By Constantin Selihanov. Bronze.

Located in Riga, LV

Konstantin Vladimirovich Selikhanov (born June 18, 1967, Minsk) is a Belarusian sculptor, artist, and graphic artist, the grandson of sculptor S. I. Selikhanov. The alley leading to ...

Category

Early 2000s Surrealist Art

Materials

Bronze

Untitled - Lithograph by Wifredo Lam - 1970s
Untitled - Lithograph by Wifredo Lam - 1970s

Untitled - Lithograph by Wifredo Lam - 1970s

By Wifredo Lam

Located in Roma, IT

Untitled is a modern artwork realized by Wifredo Lam in 1970s. Mixed colored lithograph, realized after one of the Artist's paintings. Hand monogrammed in the right lower margin wi...

Category

1970s Surrealist Art

Materials

Lithograph

Joan Miro, Untitled, from Derriere le miroir, 1967
Joan Miro, Untitled, from Derriere le miroir, 1967

Joan Miro, Untitled, from Derriere le miroir, 1967

By Joan Miró

Located in Southampton, NY

This exquisite lithograph by Joan Miro (1893–1983), titled Sans titre (Untitled), originates from the 1967 folio Derriere le miroir, L'oiseau solaire, l'oiseau lunaire, etin-celles (...

Category

1960s Surrealist Art

Materials

Lithograph

Savage Garden
Savage Garden

Timothy BerrySavage Garden, 1996

$900Sale Price|40% Off

Savage Garden

Located in Wilton Manors, FL

Timothy Berry (b.1948). Savage Garden, 1996. Oil on canvas, 34 x 32 inches. Sigh on verso. Original gallery label affixed on verso. Canvas stretched over...

Category

1990s Surrealist Art

Materials

Oil

Joan Miro, The Three Blues, from Derriere le miroir, 1951
Joan Miro, The Three Blues, from Derriere le miroir, 1951

Joan Miro, The Three Blues, from Derriere le miroir, 1951

By Joan Miró

Located in Southampton, NY

This exquisite lithograph by Joan Miro (1893–1983), titled Les Trois Bleus (The Three Blues), from the folio Derriere le miroir, Sur Quatre Murs (Behind the Mirror, On Four Walls), N...

Category

1950s Surrealist Art

Materials

Lithograph

Large Museum Scale Surrealist Composition Dalí Circle Catalan Oil Painting art
Large Museum Scale Surrealist Composition Dalí Circle Catalan Oil Painting art

Large Museum Scale Surrealist Composition Dalí Circle Catalan Oil Painting art

By Antoni Pitxot

Located in Sitges, Barcelona

Large Museum Scale Surrealist Composition Dalí Circle Catalan Painting 1987 Artist: Antoni Pitxot Birth–death: Figueres, 1934–2015 Title: Battle of Constantine Series Date: 1987 Technique: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 100 × 100 cm (39.4 × 39.4 in) Signature: Signed and dated “pitxot 87” lower right Condition: Excellent overall condition Frame: Unframed Provenance: Private collection, Barcelona DESCRIPTION Important large-scale surrealist oil painting executed in 1987 by Antoni Pitxot, one of the closest artistic collaborators of Salvador Dalí and a central figure within the visual universe of the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres. This powerful 100 × 100 cm composition belongs to Pitxot’s Battle of Constantine series, one of the artist’s most ambitious narrative cycles. In this work, his unmistakable geological figuration becomes a theatrical surrealist battlefield, where mineral forms, latent human presences, fossil memory and Mediterranean landscape merge into a monumental symbolic construction. Pitxot’s mature paintings are instantly recognizable for their transformation of stones into anthropomorphic figures and metaphysical architectures. Rather than depicting a conventional landscape, the artist creates a stage of petrified forms, suspended between archaeology, sculpture, mythology and dream imagery. The work is especially strong for its museum-scale square format, its dramatic vertical construction and its direct connection with the Dalí circle. Large paintings by Pitxot with this level of compositional complexity are considerably less common than his smaller cabinet-format works and are particularly attractive for collectors of Spanish surrealism, Catalan modernism, European surrealism and artists connected to Salvador Dalí. A major statement piece with exceptional wall presence, ideal for an important private collection, curated interior or collector focused on late twentieth-century European surrealism. ARTIST BIO Antoni Pitxot (Figueres, 1934 – Cadaqués, 2015) was a Catalan painter and one of the most significant artists associated with Salvador Dalí’s late artistic environment. Born into the historic Pichot family, closely linked to the artistic life of Cadaqués, Pitxot studied drawing in San Sebastián under Juan Núñez, who had also been Dalí’s teacher. During the 1950s and early 1960s he exhibited in Barcelona, Madrid, Bilbao and Lisbon before settling permanently in Cadaqués in 1966. From that moment, he developed his mature and highly distinctive pictorial language based on the rock formations of Cap de Creus. Pitxot collected stones from the coast, arranged them in his studio as sculptural constructions, and then transformed them into oil paintings populated by anthropomorphic mineral figures. His friendship and artistic collaboration with Salvador Dalí became central to his career. Dalí dedicated a permanent gallery to Pitxot’s work inside the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres. After Dalí’s death...

Category

1980s Surrealist Art

Materials

Oil

Digital World, Oil Painting
Digital World, Oil Painting

Digital World, Oil Painting

By Eric Vanasse

Located in San Francisco, CA

Artist Comments
A young boy stands indoors, absorbed in his mobile device. Just beyond an open door, a polar bear looms inside the house, its mouth open as if roaring. The brig...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Art

Materials

Oil

Joan Miro 'Les Fauves' Vintage Lithograph Exhibition Poster, 1966
Joan Miro 'Les Fauves' Vintage Lithograph Exhibition Poster, 1966

Joan Miro 'Les Fauves' Vintage Lithograph Exhibition Poster, 1966

By Joan Miró

Located in Brooklyn, NY

Vintage original poster for an exhibition of original lithographs by Joan Miró, titled Les Fauves, held at Le Vallauris in Paris from April 5 through May 1, 1966. This poster reflects Miró’s distinctive visual language—playful abstraction, bold forms, and a vibrant sense of movement—capturing the spirit of his graphic work during a highly creative period of his career. Produced in the pre-digital poster era, it exemplifies the authenticity and craftsmanship of mid-20th-century exhibition materials. A collectible and visually engaging piece, ideal for collectors of modern art, Miró’s lithographic work, and vintage French exhibition posters...

Category

1960s Surrealist Art

Materials

Lithograph

The Creation - Lithograph by Marc Chagall - 1960
The Creation - Lithograph by Marc Chagall - 1960

The Creation - Lithograph by Marc Chagall - 1960

By Marc Chagall

Located in Roma, IT

Color lithograph realized by Marc Chagall in 1960 to illustrate "The Bible".  Edition of 6500, published by Tériade in no. 33 and 34 of the Art Magazine Verve. Printed by Mourlot a...

Category

1960s Surrealist Art

Materials

Lithograph

Espriu - Miró II
Espriu - Miró II

Espriu - Miró II

By Joan Miró

Located in OPOLE, PL

Joan Miro (1893-1983) - Espriu - Miró II Etching and aquatint with carborundum from 1975. The edition of 15/50 on on Guarro paper with Sala Gaspar watermark. Dimensions of work: 70.3 x 85.7 cm. Hand signed. Publisher: Sala Gaspar, Barcelona. Reference: Dupin 870; Cramer 197. The work is in Good condition. -- Joan Miró’s Espriu...

Category

1970s Surrealist Art

Materials

Aquatint

Echoes of Picasso Oil on Board Painting, Surrealist, Spain, 1960s
Echoes of Picasso Oil on Board Painting, Surrealist, Spain, 1960s

Echoes of Picasso Oil on Board Painting, Surrealist, Spain, 1960s

Located in Sitges, Barcelona

Artist: Gustavo Úbeda (Herencia, Ciudad Real, 1930 – São Paulo, 1994) Title: Ecos de Picasso (Echoes of Picasso) Medium: Oil on board Dimensions: 81 x 100 cm (31.9 x 39.4 in) Signatu...

Category

1960s Surrealist Art

Materials

Oil, Board

The Spilt, Oil Painting
The Spilt, Oil Painting

The Spilt, Oil Painting

By Kat Silver

Located in San Francisco, CA

Artist Comments
A surrealist painting captures the tension between prey and predator. In the foreground, a rabbit stands wary while a fox snarls nearby. Others of their kind sc...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Art

Materials

Oil

Pegasus, Surrealist Etching by Andre Masson
Pegasus, Surrealist Etching by Andre Masson

Pegasus, Surrealist Etching by Andre Masson

By André Masson

Located in Long Island City, NY

This striking etching by Andre Masson from circa 1970 depicts the mythological Pegasus through the lens of Surrealist Figurative art and classical symbolism. Masson’s interpretation ...

Category

1970s Surrealist Art

Materials

Etching

Joan Miro, Lithograph XI, from Lithographs I, 1972
Joan Miro, Lithograph XI, from Lithographs I, 1972

Joan Miro, Lithograph XI, from Lithographs I, 1972

By Joan Miró

Located in Southampton, NY

This exquisite lithograph by Joan Miro (1893–1983), titled Lithograph XI, from the album Joan Miro Lithographs, Volume I, originates from the 1972 edition published by Tudor Publishi...

Category

1970s Surrealist Art

Materials

Lithograph

The Happy Couple, Mid Century Surrealist Fantasy Landscape by Ohio artist
The Happy Couple, Mid Century Surrealist Fantasy Landscape by Ohio artist

The Happy Couple, Mid Century Surrealist Fantasy Landscape by Ohio artist

By Mary Spain

Located in Beachwood, OH

Mary Spain (American, 1934-1983) The Happy Couple Oil on canvas Signed middle right, signed and titled verso 22 x 26 inches Set in a realm of fantasy, Mary Spain’s work exhibits oddly distorted figures in a child-like manner with an underlying sense of absurdity. Through her toylike and primitive style, Spain created surrealistic dramas that puzzle and entrance the viewer. Born in Raleigh, North Carolina, Mary Spain studied art at Syracuse University and moved to Ohio in the 1960s to teach art at Chagrin Falls...

Category

Mid-20th Century Surrealist Art

Materials

Oil

Moses and Monotheism
Moses and Monotheism

Moses and Monotheism

By Salvador Dalí­

Located in San Francisco, CA

This artwork titled, "Moses and Monotheism" 1979, is a copper embossed bas relief by artist Salvador Dali, 1904-1989. It is hand signed in felt pen at the lower right corner. The art...

Category

Late 20th Century Surrealist Art

Materials

Copper

Joan Miro, The Boar’s Ring, from Derriere le miroir, 1966
Joan Miro, The Boar’s Ring, from Derriere le miroir, 1966

Joan Miro, The Boar’s Ring, from Derriere le miroir, 1966

By Joan Miró

Located in Southampton, NY

This exquisite lithograph by Joan Miro (1893–1983), titled La Bague du sanglier (The Boar’s Ring), from the album Lithographies et eaux-fortes originales, livres illustres originaux,...

Category

1960s Surrealist Art

Materials

Lithograph

Divine Comedy
Divine Comedy

Divine Comedy

By Salvador Dalí­

Located in OPOLE, PL

Salvador Dalí’s Divine Comedy is a series of 100 color wood engravings, each corresponding to a canto from Dante Alighieri’s epic poem. Created between 1960 and 1964, these engraving...

Category

1970s Surrealist Art

Materials

Woodcut

Our House, limited edition color print, signed and numbered

Our House, limited edition color print, signed and numbered

By Maggie Taylor

Located in Sante Fe, NM

Our House, limited edition color print, signed and numbered Maggie Taylor's digital creations are emblematic, afterimages that invite, transport, and are unforgettable. Taylor's im...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Art

Materials

Archival Pigment

For Alberti, For Spain! - Etching by Joan Mirò - 1975
For Alberti, For Spain! - Etching by Joan Mirò - 1975

For Alberti, For Spain! - Etching by Joan Mirò - 1975

By Joan Miró

Located in Roma, IT

For Alberti, For Spain!  is a contemporary artwork realized by Joan Mirò in 1975. Mixed colored etching. Hand signed and numbered on the lower margin. Edition of XXVIII/LX. There ...

Category

1970s Surrealist Art

Materials

Etching

CHROMA aka Rick Wolfryd ¨KNOCK OUT: from the GREATEST SERIES¨ 2026 2 pieces !!
CHROMA aka Rick Wolfryd ¨KNOCK OUT: from the GREATEST SERIES¨ 2026 2 pieces !!

CHROMA aka Rick Wolfryd ¨KNOCK OUT: from the GREATEST SERIES¨ 2026 2 pieces !!

By CHROMA aka Rick Wolfryd

Located in Cuauhtemoc, Ciudad de México

THE GREATEST!!!!!! ALTERATION ART . . . is a collaboration process between CHROMA aka Rick Wolfryd, fine artist and art dealer with over 40 years experience, and various Mexican Hui...

Category

2010s Surrealist Art

Materials

Glass, Mixed Media

Desert Goddess / - Transcendental Realism -
Desert Goddess / - Transcendental Realism -

Desert Goddess / - Transcendental Realism -

Located in Berlin, DE

Karin Hauke, Desert Goddess, 1976. Oil on wood, 70 x 50 cm (image size), 73 cm x 53 cm (frame), signed “K. HAUKE” lower right and dated “[19]76.” - Small flaking in the lower area, o...

Category

1970s Surrealist Art

Materials

Oil

Surrealist art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Surrealist art 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 art 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, red and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Salvador Dalí, Marc Chagall, Joan Miró, and Leonor Fini. Frequently made by artists working with Paint, and Lithograph 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 art, so small editions measuring 1 inches across are also available. Prices for art 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 $1,450,000, while the average work sells for $1,426.