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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
"A state of mine" - 1976 Surrealist Lithograph on Paper
"A state of mine" - 1976 Surrealist Lithograph on Paper

"A state of mine" - 1976 Surrealist Lithograph on Paper

Located in Soquel, CA

"A state of mine" - 1976 Surrealist Lithograph on Paper 1976 surrealist lithograph on paper titled "A state of mine" by Jim Crabb (American, b. 1947). This piece resembles a surreal...

Category

1970s Surrealist Art

Materials

Laid Paper, Lithograph

"Salvador Dalí"
"Salvador Dalí"

"Salvador Dalí"

Located in Edinburgh, GB

I was inspired to paint this picture by girls. on a nudist beach, they froze on the mat. Like a city in the steppe. As a result, I met them, they became my muses, I repeatedly painte...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Art

Materials

Oil

Composition, Variations sur l'imaginaire, Joachim Ferrer
Composition, Variations sur l'imaginaire, Joachim Ferrer

Composition, Variations sur l'imaginaire, Joachim Ferrer

Located in Southampton, NY

Lithograph on vélin de Rives paper. Inscription: hand signed and unnumbered, as issued. Good condition. Notes: From the folio, Variations sur l'imaginaire, 1972. Published by Philipp...

Category

1970s Surrealist Art

Materials

Lithograph

Navigation without names.

Navigation without names.

By Maggie Taylor

Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

In 1981 Maggie Taylor (b. 1961) began to photograph while she was a student at Yale University majoring in philosophy. She primarily took photographs of suburban landscapes and stran...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Art

Materials

Digital Pigment

Homme baisant la chaussure
Homme baisant la chaussure

Homme baisant la chaussure

By Salvador Dalí­

Located in OPOLE, PL

Salvador Dali (1904-1989) - Homme baisant la chaussure Etching from 1969. 66/145 on Japan paper. Dimensions of work: 38 x 28 cm. Hand signed. Publisher: Graphik Europa Anstalt. ...

Category

1970s Surrealist Art

Materials

Etching

"Pollock Easter Egg"
"Pollock Easter Egg"

"Pollock Easter Egg"

Located in Edinburgh, GB

The Pollock Easter Egg. This series is dedicated to Ukrainian Easter eggs – pysankas. The Ukrainian pysanka is a symbol that unites all corners of our country. And its role is p...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Art

Materials

Acrylic

Piccarda Donati - Woodcut Print - 1963
Piccarda Donati - Woodcut Print - 1963

Piccarda Donati - Woodcut Print - 1963

By Salvador Dalí­

Located in Roma, IT

Piccarda Donati from the Series "The Divine Comedy" is a woodcut print realized in 1963. Good conditions. Not signed, as issued. Plate n.3 (as reported on the back of the artwork) ...

Category

1960s Surrealist Art

Materials

Woodcut

French Abstract Surrealist Color Lithograph Andre Masson
French Abstract Surrealist Color Lithograph Andre Masson

French Abstract Surrealist Color Lithograph Andre Masson

By André Masson

Located in Surfside, FL

Published Benincasa Carmine. Edizioni SEAT, Torino, Italy. Offset directly from the original plates. Limited edition. This is not hand signed or numbered. Signature in the printing p...

Category

20th Century Surrealist Art

Materials

Lithograph, Offset

Self portrait as a butterfly.

Self portrait as a butterfly.

By Maggie Taylor

Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

In 1981 Maggie Taylor (b. 1961) began to photograph while she was a student at Yale University majoring in philosophy. She primarily took photographs of suburban landscapes and stran...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Art

Materials

Digital Pigment

9 of Pentacles, Oil Painting
9 of Pentacles, Oil Painting

9 of Pentacles, Oil Painting

By Rachel Srinivasan

Located in San Francisco, CA

Artist Comments
The artwork depicts the Nine of Pentacles card, symbolizing rapidly growing success, incoming financial satisfaction, and wealth. White bison figures represen...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Art

Materials

Oil

The realist.

The realist.

By Maggie Taylor

Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

In 1981 Maggie Taylor (b. 1961) began to photograph while she was a student at Yale University majoring in philosophy. She primarily took photographs of suburban landscapes and stran...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Art

Materials

Digital Pigment

Why not?

Why not?

By Maggie Taylor

Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

In 1981 Maggie Taylor (b. 1961) began to photograph while she was a student at Yale University majoring in philosophy. She primarily took photographs of suburban landscapes and stran...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Art

Materials

Digital Pigment

The patient traveler.

The patient traveler.

By Maggie Taylor

Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

In 1981 Maggie Taylor (b. 1961) began to photograph while she was a student at Yale University majoring in philosophy. She primarily took photographs of suburban landscapes and stran...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Art

Materials

Digital Pigment

Clavilegnio
Clavilegnio

Salvador Dalí­Clavilegnio, 1972

$6,554Sale Price|20% Off

Clavilegnio

By Salvador Dalí­

Located in OPOLE, PL

This work will be exhibited at Art on Paper NYC, September 4–7, 2025. – Salvador Dali (1904-1989) - Clavilegnio Lithograph from 1972. The edition of 187/250. Dimensions of work:...

Category

1970s Surrealist Art

Materials

Lithograph

Stories will be told.
Stories will be told.

Stories will be told.

By Maggie Taylor

Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

In 1981 Maggie Taylor (b. 1961) began to photograph while she was a student at Yale University majoring in philosophy. She primarily took photographs of suburban landscapes and stran...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Art

Materials

Digital Pigment

New moon.

New moon.

By Maggie Taylor

Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

In 1981 Maggie Taylor (b. 1961) began to photograph while she was a student at Yale University majoring in philosophy. She primarily took photographs of suburban landscapes and stran...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Art

Materials

Digital Pigment

Deardorff
Deardorff

Fanny BrennanDeardorff, 1993-96

$238Sale Price|20% Off

Deardorff

By Fanny Brennan

Located in New York, NY

Created by Surrealist Fanny Brennan from 1993-96, Deardorff is an original lithograph in colors on wove paper, hand-monogrammed by the artist in pencil and numbered from the edition ...

Category

Late 20th Century Surrealist Art

Materials

Lithograph

The find.

The find.

By Maggie Taylor

Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

In 1981 Maggie Taylor (b. 1961) began to photograph while she was a student at Yale University majoring in philosophy. She primarily took photographs of suburban landscapes and stran...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Art

Materials

Digital Pigment

Morning in the gallery.

Morning in the gallery.

By Maggie Taylor

Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

In 1981 Maggie Taylor (b. 1961) began to photograph while she was a student at Yale University majoring in philosophy. She primarily took photographs of suburban landscapes and stran...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Art

Materials

Digital Pigment

Before breakfast.

Before breakfast.

By Maggie Taylor

Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

In 1981 Maggie Taylor (b. 1961) began to photograph while she was a student at Yale University majoring in philosophy. She primarily took photographs of suburban landscapes and stran...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Art

Materials

Digital Pigment

A world of her own.

A world of her own.

By Maggie Taylor

Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

In 1981 Maggie Taylor (b. 1961) began to photograph while she was a student at Yale University majoring in philosophy. She primarily took photographs of suburban landscapes and stran...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Art

Materials

Digital Pigment

Vintage Poster - Exhibition at Galerie Maeght - 1978

Vintage Poster - Exhibition at Galerie Maeght - 1978

Located in Roma, IT

Vintage Poster Exhibition Galerie Maeght is a vintage Lithograph and Offset poster realized after Joan Mirò (1893-1983) in 1978. Good conditions. Joan Miró i Ferrà (20 April 1893 –...

Category

1970s Surrealist Art

Materials

Offset, Lithograph

The Blasphermers - Woodcut print - 1963
The Blasphermers - Woodcut print - 1963

The Blasphermers - Woodcut print - 1963

By Salvador Dalí­

Located in Roma, IT

The Blasphermers - Hell Plate 14 is a woodcut print realized in 1963 for a series illustrating the Medieval poem of the "Divine Comedy" by Dante Alighieri. Plate n.32 (as reported on...

Category

1960s Surrealist Art

Materials

Woodcut

Skyshade
Skyshade

Fanny BrennanSkyshade, 1992-96

$238Sale Price|20% Off

Skyshade

By Fanny Brennan

Located in New York, NY

Created by Surrealist Fanny Brennan from 1992-96, Skyshade is a lithograph in colors on wove paper. Hand-monogrammed in pencil and numbered from the edition of 250, the artwork measu...

Category

Late 20th Century Surrealist Art

Materials

Lithograph

The bird watchers.

The bird watchers.

By Maggie Taylor

Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

In 1981 Maggie Taylor (b. 1961) began to photograph while she was a student at Yale University majoring in philosophy. She primarily took photographs of suburban landscapes and stran...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Art

Materials

Digital Pigment

Composition, Feuilles éparses, Max Ernst
Composition, Feuilles éparses, Max Ernst

Composition, Feuilles éparses, Max Ernst

By Max Ernst

Located in Southampton, NY

Etching on vélin cuve de Rives paper. Inscription: Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Good condition. Notes: From the folio, Feuilles éparses, 1965. Published and printed by Louis B...

Category

1960s Surrealist Art

Materials

Etching

Frog Couple, Oil Painting
Frog Couple, Oil Painting

Frog Couple, Oil Painting

By Kat Silver

Located in San Francisco, CA

Artist Comments
An old-timey frog couple stands together, but they seem to be miles apart. The artwork delves into the profound exploration of human connections, revealing ho...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Art

Materials

Oil

Surreal San Francisco in a Pen and Ink Drawing
Surreal San Francisco in a Pen and Ink Drawing

Surreal San Francisco in a Pen and Ink Drawing

Located in San Francisco, CA

This signed drawing, "Low Fog" by American artist Justin Murray (1912–1987), features a lone caricatured man smoking a pipe amid rolling fog, with distant hills, buildings, and powe...

Category

Mid-20th Century Surrealist Art

Materials

Paper, Ink, Pen

"La race blanche (The White Race), " Lithograph after Painting by Rene Magritte
"La race blanche (The White Race), " Lithograph after Painting by Rene Magritte

"La race blanche (The White Race), " Lithograph after Painting by Rene Magritte

By René Magritte

Located in Milwaukee, WI

"La race blanche (The White Race)" is a color lithograph after the original 1937 painting by Rene Magritte. A female figure is made out of a mix of body parts. An eye sits on top of an ear, which is on top of a mouth, then two noses. Two breasts lying on a stomach; two arms come from the breasts. Legs are tucked under the stomach. This figure is on a sand dune next to the ocean. Art: 26.5 x 19.63 in Frame: 40.88 x 33.88 in René-François-Ghislain Magritte was born November 21, 1898, in Lessines, Belgium and died on August 15, 1967 in Brussels. He is one of the most important surrealist artists. Through his art, Magritte creates humor and mystery with juxtapositions and shocking irregularities. Some of his hallmark motifs include the bourgeois “little man,” bowler hats, apples, hidden faces, and contradictory texts. René Magritte’s father was a tailor and his mother was a miller. Tragedy struck Magritte’s life when his mother committed suicide when he was only fourteen. Magritte and his two brothers were thereafter raised by their grandmother. Magritte studied at the Brussels Academy of Fine Arts from 1916 to 1918. After graduating he worked as a wallpaper designer and in advertisement. It was during this period that he married Georgette Berger, whom he had known since they were teenagers. In 1926, René Magritte signed...

Category

Early 2000s Surrealist Art

Materials

Lithograph

After Jean Miró, Pink and Purple Surrealism at Play
After Jean Miró, Pink and Purple Surrealism at Play

After Jean Miró, Pink and Purple Surrealism at Play

By (after) Joan Miró

Located in San Francisco, CA

There’s been a lot of gray and stainless steel in decorating in recent years. For someone tentatively thinking of introducing some fresh excitement into their minimalist maison, cons...

Category

Mid-20th Century Surrealist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"Femme et Oiseaux dans la Nuit" original pochoir

"Femme et Oiseaux dans la Nuit" original pochoir

By Joan Miró

Located in Henderson, NV

Medium: original pochoir stencil print in four colors. Catalogue reference: Dupin 50. Printed in 1947 in an edition of 1500 by Meriden Gravure and published by Curt Valentin for the ...

Category

1940s Surrealist Art

Materials

Lithograph, Stencil

Marc Chagall - Original Lithograph
Marc Chagall - Original Lithograph

Marc Chagall - Original Lithograph

By Marc Chagall

Located in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CH

Marc Chagall Original Lithograph 1963 Dimensions: 32 x 24 cm Reference: Chagall Lithographe 1957-1962. VOLUME II. Condition : Excellent Marc Chagall (born in 1887) Marc Chagall was born in Belarus in 1887 and developed an early interest in art. After studying painting, in 1907 he left Russia for Paris, where he lived in an artist colony on the city’s outskirts. Fusing his own personal, dreamlike imagery with hints of the fauvism and cubism popular in France at the time, Chagall created his most lasting work—including I and the Village (1911)—some of which would be featured in the Salon des Indépendants exhibitions. After returning to Vitebsk for a visit in 1914, the outbreak of WWI trapped Chagall in Russia. He returned to France in 1923 but was forced to flee the country and Nazi persecution during WWII. Finding asylum in the U.S., Chagall became involved in set and costume design before returning to France in 1948. In his later years, he experimented with new art forms and was commissioned to produce numerous large-scale works. Chagall died in St.-Paul-de-Vence in 1985. The Village Marc Chagall was born in a small Hassidic community on the outskirts of Vitebsk, Belarus, on July 7, 1887. His father was a fishmonger, and his mother ran a small sundries shop in the village. As a child, Chagall attended the Jewish elementary school, where he studied Hebrew and the Bible, before later attending the Russian public school. He began to learn the fundamentals of drawing during this time, but perhaps more importantly, he absorbed the world around him, storing away the imagery and themes that would feature largely in most of his later work. At age 19 Chagall enrolled at a private, all-Jewish art school and began his formal education in painting, studying briefly with portrait artist Yehuda Pen. However, he left the school after several months, moving to St. Petersburg in 1907 to study at the Imperial Society for the Protection of Fine Arts. The following year, he enrolled at the Svanseva School, studying with set designer Léon Bakst, whose work had been featured in Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. This early experience would prove important to Chagall’s later career as well. Despite this formal instruction, and the widespread popularity of realism in Russia at the time, Chagall was already establishing his own personal style, which featured a more dreamlike unreality and the people, places and imagery that were close to his heart. Some examples from this period are his Window Vitebsk (1908) and My Fianceé with Black Gloves (1909), which pictured Bella Rosenfeld, to whom he had recently become engaged. The Beehive Despite his romance with Bella, in 1911 an allowance from Russian parliament member and art patron Maxim Binaver enabled Chagall to move to Paris, France. After settling briefly in the Montparnasse neighborhood, Chagall moved further afield to an artist colony known as La Ruche (“The Beehive”), where he began to work side by side with abstract painters such as Amedeo Modigliani and Fernand Léger as well as the avant-garde poet Guillaume Apollinaire. At their urging, and under the influence of the wildly popular fauvism and cubism, Chagall lightened his palette and pushed his style ever further from reality. I and the Village (1911) and Homage to Apollinaire (1912) are among his early Parisian works, widely considered to be his most successful and representative period. Though his work stood stylistically apart from his cubist contemporaries, from 1912 to 1914 Chagall exhibited several paintings at the annual Salon des Indépendants exhibition, where works by the likes of Juan Gris, Marcel Duchamp and Robert Delaunay were causing a stir in the Paris art world. Chagall’s popularity began to spread beyond La Ruche, and in May 1914 he traveled to Berlin to help organize his first solo exhibition, at Der Sturm Gallery. Chagall remained in the city until the highly acclaimed show opened that June. He then returned to Vitebsk, unaware of the fateful events to come. War, Peace and Revolution In August 1914 the outbreak of World War I precluded Chagall’s plans to return to Paris. The conflict did little to stem the flow of his creative output, however, instead merely giving him direct access to the childhood scenes so essential to his work, as seen in paintings such as Jew in Green (1914) and Over Vitebsk (1914). His paintings from this period also occasionally featured images of the war’s impact on the region, as with Wounded Soldier (1914) and Marching (1915). But despite the hardships of life during wartime, this would also prove to be a joyful period for Chagall. In July 1915 he married Bella, and she gave birth to a daughter, Ida, the following year. Their appearance in works such as Birthday (1915), Bella and Ida by the Window (1917) and several of his “Lovers” paintings give a glimpse of the island of domestic bliss that was Chagall’s amidst the chaos. To avoid military service and stay with his new family, Chagall took a position as a clerk in the Ministry of War Economy in St. Petersburg. While there he began work on his autobiography and also immersed himself in the local art scene, befriending novelist Boris Pasternak, among others. He also exhibited his work in the city and soon gained considerable recognition. That notoriety would prove important in the aftermath of the 1917 Russian Revolution when he was appointed as the Commissar of Fine Arts in Vitebsk. In his new post, Chagall undertook various projects in the region, including the 1919 founding of the Academy of the Arts. Despite these endeavors, differences among his colleagues eventually disillusioned Chagall. In 1920 he relinquished his position and moved his family to Moscow, the post-revolution capital of Russia. In Moscow, Chagall was soon commissioned to create sets and costumes for various productions at the Moscow State Yiddish Theater...

Category

1960s Surrealist Art

Materials

Lithograph

Andre Masson, Untitled, from The Seventh Song, 1974
Andre Masson, Untitled, from The Seventh Song, 1974

Andre Masson, Untitled, from The Seventh Song, 1974

By André Masson

Located in Southampton, NY

This exquisite engraving by Andre Masson (1896–1987), titled Sans titre (Untitled), from the folio Le septieme chant, la mort d'Isidore Ducasse, Jeudi 24 Bovembre 1870, 7 Rue du Faub...

Category

1970s Surrealist Art

Materials

Engraving

Happy New Year - Drawing by L. Gischia - 1960

Happy New Year - Drawing by L. Gischia - 1960

By Léon Gischia

Located in Roma, IT

Happy New Year is an original black marker drawing on paper with autograph wishing notes by the French artist Léon Gischia to Nesto Jacometti, editor and collector of Graphic art. ...

Category

1960s Surrealist Art

Materials

Permanent Marker

Andre Masson, Untitled, from The Seventh Song, 1974
Andre Masson, Untitled, from The Seventh Song, 1974

Andre Masson, Untitled, from The Seventh Song, 1974

By André Masson

Located in Southampton, NY

This exquisite engraving by Andre Masson (1896–1987), titled Sans titre (Untitled), from the folio Le septieme chant, la mort d'Isidore Ducasse, Jeudi 24 Bovembre 1870, 7 Rue du Faub...

Category

1970s Surrealist Art

Materials

Engraving

The toast of last night.

The toast of last night.

By Maggie Taylor

Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

In 1981 Maggie Taylor (b. 1961) began to photograph while she was a student at Yale University majoring in philosophy. She primarily took photographs of suburban landscapes and stran...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Art

Materials

Digital Pigment

Welcome to the water planet.

Welcome to the water planet.

By Maggie Taylor

Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

In 1981 Maggie Taylor (b. 1961) began to photograph while she was a student at Yale University majoring in philosophy. She primarily took photographs of suburban landscapes and stran...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Art

Materials

Digital Pigment

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.