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.
The Revelation of Bettie Page (2018), Painting, Oil on Wood Panel
By Corne Akkers
Located in Yardley, PA
The Revelation of Bettie Page (2018) In this painting I tried to work out some grand themes: sex and religion. There is nothing more to say about the ‘what’. About the ‘howâ...
Oil
$8,400Sale Price|20% Off
Lunettes à hologrammes et ordinateurs pour voir les objets imaginés (F 75-13)
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Salvador Dali (1904-1989) Title: Baignoire à tornade liquide (Michler/Löpsinger 822-831; Field 75-13), Imaginations et Objets du Futur (Hologram glasses and computers to see ...
Mixed Media, Drypoint, Lithograph, Screen
General and Nude - Oil on Canvas painting by Vasily Kafanov
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Vasily Kafanov, Russian (1952 - ) Title: General and Nude Year: 1990 Medium: Acrylic on Canvas, signed l.r. Size: 50 x 70 in. (127 x 177.8 cm)
Canvas, Oil
$5,635
"Birch Woods", Surrealist Naive Primitive Night Landscape Acrylic Painting
Located in Clermont-Ferrand, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
This artwork actually contains two landscapes. The inner landscape depicts a forest of birch trees at dawn or at dusk, with a purple sky and a fuzzy Sun. The ground is full of colored small flowers and plants. The outer landscape depicts a night green landscape through birch branches, with clouds and the Moon. Although both landscape can't actually merge, some branches of the inner landscape extends into those of the outer landscape, which makes this painting surrealist. Both landscapes are separated by a pink mosaic...
Canvas, Acrylic
Untitled, Abstract Expressionist Oil Painting on Canvas by Victor Chab
By Victor Chab
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Victor Chab, Argentine (1930 - ) Title: Untitled - Abstract Bird Year: 1964 Medium: Oil on Canvas, signed and dated verso Size: 32 x 25.5 inches (81 x 65 cm)
Canvas, Oil
$898Sale Price|20% Off
Business
By Airom
Located in Santa Monica, CA
Mixed media painting with a tie that comes through a hole in the upper middle of the painting for a 3D element.
Mixed Media, Acrylic
Clown, Surrealist Etching by James Kearns
By James Kearns
Located in Long Island City, NY
James Kearns, American (1924 - ) - Clown, Year: circa 1975, Medium: Etching on Rives, signed, titled and numbered, Edition: 44/50, Image Size: 14.5 x 8.75 inches, Size: 22 x 15 in....
Etching
Salvador Dali "Untitled XIX (Le Tricorne)"
Located in Boston, MA
Artist: Dali, Salvador Title: Untitled XIX (Le Tricorne) Series: Le Tricorne (The Three-Pointed Hat) Date: 1959 Medium: Wood engraving Unframed Dimensions: 12.6" x 8.8" Framed...
Engraving
Salvador Dali - Les Songes Drolatiques - Handsigned Lithograph
Located in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CH
Hand-Signed Lithograph by Salvador Dali This edition is on Japan Paper Title: Pantagruel's Dreams Signed in Pencil by Salvador Dali Dimensions: 76 x 56 cm Edition: EA 1973 References...
Etching
MEMOIRS_
Located in Edinburgh, GB
Surrealism
Canvas, Oil
$4,325
Frozen Planet 81 - original figurative landscape painting - contemporary Art
By Stephanie Ho
Located in London, Chelsea
Gallery service: Complimentary worldwide shipping is offered, with Signet Contemporary Art covering all tariffs, customs duties and import taxes, making international collecting simp...
Canvas, Oil
Attulima, Surrealist Lithograph by Roberto Matta
Located in Long Island City, NY
Roberto Matta, Chilean (1911 - 2002) - Attulima, Year: 1954, Medium: Lithograph, Edition: 211, Image Size: 10.75 x 8.5 inches, Size: 10.75 x 17 in. (27.31 x 43.18 cm), Publisher: E...
Lithograph
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 ...
Oil
Crowd #2
By Misha Gordin
Located in Phoenix, AZ
Gelatin silver print Misha Gordin was born in 1946, the first year after World War II ended. Having survived the hardships of evacuation, Gordin's parents returned back home to Riga...
Silver Gelatin
Malerei des 20 (20th C. Paintings), 1960s Museum poster litho
By Joan Miró
Located in New York, NY
Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen - Malerei des 20. Jahrhunderts (20th Century Painting) Museum poster Original Vintage Stone Lithographic Museum Exhibition Poster, 1967 (Located in ...
Offset
Self-Portrait Sundial
Located in Hollywood, FL
ARTIST: Salvador Dali TITLE: Self-Portrait Sundial MEDIUM: Lithograph SIGNED: Hand Signed EDITION NUMBER: 103/150 MEASUREMENTS: 22.25" x 18" YEAR: 1966 CONDITION: Excellent ...
Lithograph
Hinges, Large-Scale Contemporary Figurative Triptych, Acrylic on Canvas
Located in Denver, CO
“Hinges” is a large-scale contemporary figurative triptych from 2021, painted in acrylic and glow-in-the-dark medium on canvas. A dancer reaches upward across the left panel, while a...
Canvas, Acrylic, Mixed Media
$1,650
Probity in the Quiet of Fear (surrealism, hard edge, colorful art, color field)
By JB Nearsy
Located in Kansas City, MO
JB Nearsy Probity in the Quiet of Fear 2016 Acrylic on Canvas Size: 18x29in Framed: 27.5x38x2in Signed by hand COA provided Ref.: 924802-1775 *Framed and matted with a white wood fra...
Canvas, Acrylic
Blue Monday - figurative painting
Located in New York, NY
This landscape painting by Henryk was done in 2022. It will ship from the artists studio in Poland. More about Henryk Laskowska: Henryk Laskowski has been working as a graphic design...
Canvas, Acrylic
Sirin and Alkonost, Surreal Oil Painting by Nina Usacheva-Green
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Nina Usacheva-Green, Russian Title: Sirin and Alkonost Year: 1981 Medium: Oil on Canvas, signed Size: 40 x 29 inches Frame: 49 x 38 inches
Canvas, Oil
$11,200Sale Price|20% Off
Salvador Dali "Leda and the Swan"
Located in Boston, MA
Artist: Dali, Salvador Title: Leda and the Swan Series: The Mythology Date: 1963 Medium: drypoint on Japon paper Unframed Dimensions: 30" x 18 1/8" Framed Dimensions: 42" x 34...
Drypoint
Obra Inèdita Recent X
By Joan Miró
Located in Toronto, Ontario
Joan Miró is one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. He is renowned internationally as a painter, sculptor, printmaker, and ceramicist. Miró’s works, which were at the int...
Lithograph
$167Sale Price|20% Off
Night city 2005, paper, etching, 13x16 cm 40/100
Located in Riga, LV
Night city 2005, paper, etching, 13x16 cm 40/100 The artwork depicts a surrealistic green cityscape, showcasing a unique and imaginative interpretation of a nighttime urban scene. ...
Paper, Etching
Collective letter
Located in Edinburgh, GB
This picture is included in the series of artworks "Pathos of the Bureaucracy". 100x100cm / oil on canvas/ 2017 The picture is ready to hang (edges of a picture is painted) Signed on the front and back. Certificate of authenticity is included. This is my humorous reaction to the bureaucracy. So often we come across unnecessary laws that say that you need to take permission from someone, and you run from one agency to another, and then notice that part of life has passed.. In the picture, the cancer writes a collective letter to the slug...
Canvas, Oil
Cain et Abel
By Marc Chagall
Located in Paris, FR
Original lithograph by Marc Chagall from The Bible of 1960 "Cain et Abel" Unsigned 35 x 26 cm Excellent condition
Lithograph
$3,960Sale Price|20% Off
The Good the Bad and Ugly (oil painting monochrome man cowboy western hat)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
keywords; surrealism, portrait, oil painting, earth tones, figurative painting, strangeness, contemporary surrealistic, unsettling, contemporary figurative painting, dreams, symbolic...
Canvas, Oil
Enrico Baj (1924–2003) – Color mixed-media with collage on paper – 1975
By Enrico Baj
Located in Varese, IT
Color mixed-media with collage on paper from 'Le dame di Casa Baj' series, edited in 1975. Limited edition of 250, numbered as 107/250 in lower left corner. Hand-signed in pencil by ...
Paper
Three Nightshades, Surrealist Lithograph by Wojtek Kowalczyk
Located in Long Island City, NY
Three Nightshades Wojtek Kowalczyk, Polish (1960) Date: 2005 Lithograph, signed in pencil Size: 19.5 in. x 13.5 in. (49.53 cm x 34.29 cm)
Lithograph
Palm Springs in Pastels - Colorful Architectural Still Life Watercolor Painting
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...
Paper, Watercolor
Le Sacre du Printemps
Located in Hollywood, FL
ARTIST: Salvador Dali TITLE: Le Sacre du Printemps MEDIUM: Lithograph on Japon Paper SIGNED: Hand Signed EDITION NUMBER: EA MEASUREMENTS: 22.25" x 30" YEAR: 1966 FRAMED: No ...
Lithograph
"Munk's Tea Party" (2025) Oil Landscape Painting on Panel
Located in Denver, CO
This beautiful and charming photorealistic oil painting by Heather Neill is framed at 28 x 20 inches, and is ready to hang. Artist Autobiography: Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, 1958, my ...
Oil, Panel
Tristram and Iseult
Located in OPOLE, PL
Salvador Dali (1904-1989) - Tristram and Iseult Etching from 1969. Dimensions of work: 45 x 33 cm. Hand signed. Publisher: Pamela Verlag, New York. Reference: R. Michler, L.W. ...
Etching
$223Sale Price|20% Off
Caprices. Paper, etching, 15.5x10.5 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Caprices. Paper, etching, 15.5x10.5 cm "Caprices" is an etching artwork on paper that presents a series of whimsical and imaginative scenes or subjects. Through the intricate lines...
Paper, Etching
Symbols Devil
Located in Hollywood, FL
ARTIST: Salvador Dali TITLE: Symbols Devil MEDIUM: Etching SIGNED: Hand Signed PUBLISHER: EGI/Vanguard Studios (Beverly Hills) EDITION NUMBER: 26/150 MEASUREMENTS: 16" x 16" ...
Etching
Faust Sorcieres au Bali
Located in Hollywood, FL
ARTIST: Salvador Dali TITLE: Faust Sorceress au Bali MEDIUM: Etching SIGNED: Hand Signed PUBLISHER: Editions Aegillet, Paris EDITION NUMBER: 9/95 MEASUREMENTS: 15" x 11.2" pa...
Etching
$11,200Sale Price|20% Off
Surrealist Moon, Evening
Located in New York, NY
A frequent exhibitor with the major art societies already by the 1930’s with several of his paintings in the country’s major museum collections by the 1940’s, Michael Forster...
Canvas, Acrylic
Salvador Dali - The Tournament of Galore - Original Handsigned Etching
Located in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CH
Salvador Dali - Original Handsigned Etching From La Quête du Graal Dimensions: 45 x 33 cm Handsigned Edition: 38/100 From the rare additional suite of 100 aside from the edition of ...
Etching
$2,000Sale Price|20% Off
The First Silence -21st Century Contemporary, Figurative Portrait, Modern Africa
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
There is a silence that arrives long before acceptance does. It is the silence that follows the last embrace, the last conversation, the last moment you realize someone you love wil...
Canvas, Acrylic
Nautical Vintage Voyage of Yesteryear, Painting, Oil on Canvas
By Grace Diehl
Located in Yardley, PA
For this unique, original a ceramic egg was merged into a seascape for a surreal styled painting. The egg features nostalgia of jubilant sailor boys on their travels in a hot air bal...
Oil
After 50 Years of Surrealism Freud with Snail Head
Located in Hollywood, FL
ARTIST: Salvador Dali TITLE: After 50 Years of Surrealism Freud with Snail Head MEDIUM: Etching SIGNED: Hand Signed EDITION NUMBER: F 59/195 MEASUREMENTS: 19.75" x 26" YEAR: 1...
Etching
"Silver Cord, " Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Amanda Seckington's "Silver Cord" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts a vibrant purple and red eye and face.
Oil, Panel
Ghosts of Philadelphia 3, dramatic black & white narrative
By Tom Bennett
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Monotype Dramatic imagery from Tom Bennett’s series of black and white monotypes, blending surrealistic mindscapes with stark realism About Tom Bennett: With quick brushstrokes, Tom...
Monotype, Archival Ink, Archival Paper
$7,120Sale Price|20% Off
Salvador Dali "Raspberry Bush"
Located in Boston, MA
Artist: Dali, Salvador Title: Raspberry Bush Series: Flors Dali (The Fruits) Date: 1969 Medium: Lithograph with original drypoint remarques Framed Dimensions: 37" x 29.5" Signa...
Drypoint, Lithograph
De Mauvais Sujets - Planche III, Original Etching, Modern, 1958, Framed
By Marc Chagall
Located in OPOLE, PL
Marc Chagall (1887-1985) - De Mauvais Sujets - Planche III Etching and aquatint from 1958. An unnumbered and unsigned copy from a limited edition of 153. Dimensions of sheet: 43.5 x 32.5 cm Dimensions in frame: 63.2 x 53.2 cm Publisher: Les Bibliophiles de l’Union Française, Paris. Printer: Atelier Lacourière et Frélaut, Paris. Reference: Cramer 35 -- This original color etching comes from De Mauvais Sujets ("The Bad Subjects"), a 1958 illustrated portfolio that paired Marc Chagall’s artwork...
Etching, Aquatint
$55,000
Contemporary, stainless steel sculpture, Leapfrog, contemporary sculpture.
Located in La Canada Flintridge, CA
Polished Stainless Steel, and Signed and numbered, Edition 5/9 Bold, energetic, and playfully powerful, Leapfrog by Irina Daylene captures a striking moment of dynamic balance and ...
Stainless Steel
"Their Song Welcomed the Night, " Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Sara Scribner's (US based) "Their Song Welcomed the Night" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts a realistic portrait of a feminine form in ...
Oil, Panel
Dalinean Horses The Centaur of Crete
Located in Hollywood, FL
ARTIST: Salvador Dali TITLE: Dalinean Horses The Centaur of Crete MEDIUM: Lithograph SIGNED: Hand Signed PUBLISHER: Simeon Wajntraub & Jacques Carpentier EDITION NUMBER: 170/25...
Lithograph
Resting Man, Surrealist Lithograph by Aubrey Schwartz
Located in Long Island City, NY
Aubrey Schwartz, American (1928 - 2019) - Resting Man, Year: circa 1962, Medium: Lithograph, signed and numbered in pencil, Edition: 19/20, Image Size: 9 x 7.75 inches, Size: 17.25...
Lithograph
Before breakfast.
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...
Digital Pigment
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...
Lithograph, Offset
$6,960Sale Price|20% Off
Diva (chicken oil painting surrealist red sky lady in pink robe Farm animal)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
Rudolf Kosow’s Diva is a striking contemporary surrealist painting that stages a poetic and unsettling encounter between a young girl and a monumental Polish chicken—its iridescent p...
Canvas, Oil
Conclusion de l'Ecclésiaste - Lithograph by Marc Chagall - 1960s
By Marc Chagall
Located in Roma, IT
Conclusion de l'ecclésiaste is an artwork realized by March Chagall, 1960s. Lithograph on brown-toned paper, no signature. Lithograph on both sheets. Edition of 6500 unsigned lith...
Lithograph
South, Texas Landscape Surrealist Drawing of a Cigar and a Crop Duster
By Jack Boynton
Located in Houston, TX
Surrealist landscape of South Texas. The subject matter is a cigar that is suppose to look like a bull with a crop duster in the background. The drawing is done in graphite with brig...
Ink, Graphite
$5,056Sale Price|36% Off
Phenomenon (surrealism oil painting rooster chicken head farm animal red)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
Absurd scenery in the middle of nowhere: head of a chicken, seemingly alive ... and an elderly man ... do they belong together, are they probably old...
Canvas, Oil
Magic Realism Figurative Artwork, "Patience" by Evgeniya Golik
Located in San Diego, CA
A 15” x 12” x .75" Magic Realism Figurative Artwork by artist Evgeniya Golik. This piece is a Handmade Linocut Print with Gold Leaf on Pearl Paper. A certificate of authenticity will...
Gold Leaf
3 Choices
By Marcel Dzama
Located in Toronto, Ontario
Marcel Dzama is one of the most successful contemporary Canadian artists, beloved for his unmistakable version of Surrealism. Born in Winnipeg in 1974, Dzama achieved an internation...
Ink, Mixed Media
Folklore Dance Abstract Composition
Located in Lake Worth Beach, FL
Folklore Dance, acrylic on canvas. Malgosia Kiernozycka was born in Wroclaw, Poland. She graduated high school at the School of Fine Arts and received a scholarship from the Mini...
Canvas, Acrylic
Wide Window I, Surrealist Lithograph by John Hultberg
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: John Hultberg Title: Wide Window I Year: 1977 Medium: Lithograph, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 200 Image Size: 24 x 33 inches Paper Size: 26 in. x 35 in. (66.04 cm...
Lithograph
4500 Transformaciones, Painting, Oil on Canvas
By Andres Vivo
Located in Yardley, PA
Picture belonging to my human behaviour series Related to human rights Inspired by the dramatic artworks of Francisco Goya :: Painting :: Surrealism :: This piece comes with an off...
Oil
$6,240Sale Price|20% Off
Protectress (pug, lady archer, bow, arrow, neutrals, surrealism, oil painting)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
IN PROTECTRESS, a massive pug, its head resting heavily on the ground, gazes outward with a sorrowful, almost pleading expression. The warm tones of its fur—soft beiges and browns—co...
Canvas, Oil