Surrealist Art
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.
1940s Surrealist Art
Lithograph
1950s Surrealist Art
Ceramic
Artist Comments
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21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Art
Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Surrealist Art
Paper
1960s Surrealist Art
Lithograph
1940s Surrealist Art
Photogravure
2010s Surrealist Art
Acrylic, Graphite
2010s Surrealist Art
Paint, Mixed Media, Archival Paper, Pen
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Art
Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Surrealist Art
Oil
1980s Surrealist Art
Lithograph
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Art
Oil, Wood Panel
1950s Surrealist Art
Lithograph
1970s Surrealist Art
Offset, Lithograph
1970s Surrealist Art
Lithograph
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Art
Archival Ink
2010s Surrealist Art
Gesso, Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
2010s Surrealist Art
Oil
1960s Surrealist Art
Woodcut
2010s Surrealist Art
Paper, Color
1970s Surrealist Art
Gold Leaf
1960s Surrealist Art
Engraving
1960s Surrealist Art
Lithograph
1970s Surrealist Art
Lithograph
1960s Surrealist Art
Lithograph
2010s Surrealist Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Surrealist Art
Oil, Panel
1940s Surrealist Art
Photogravure
1970s Surrealist Art
Lithograph
1990s Surrealist Art
Silver Gelatin
1990s Surrealist Art
Lithograph
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Art
Canvas, Oil
1930s Surrealist Art
Lithograph
Late 20th Century Surrealist Art
Oil
1980s Surrealist Art
Canvas, Acrylic
1980s Surrealist Art
Lithograph
Mid-20th Century Surrealist Art
Oil
2010s Surrealist Art
Oil, Acrylic, Wood Panel
1970s Surrealist Art
Etching
2010s Surrealist Art
Giclée
1960s Surrealist Art
Lithograph
1960s Surrealist Art
Etching, Aquatint
1960s Surrealist Art
Etching
1960s Surrealist Art
Woodcut
1940s Surrealist Art
Photogravure
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Art
Fabric, Canvas
2010s Surrealist Art
Photographic Paper
1990s Surrealist Art
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Art
Screen
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Art
Canvas, Oil
1970s Surrealist Art
Etching
1960s Surrealist Art
Drypoint
1960s Surrealist Art
Lithograph
2010s Surrealist Art
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Art
Oil, Wood Panel
1970s Surrealist Art
Lithograph
1990s Surrealist Art
Oil, Acrylic, Canvas
2010s Surrealist Art
Canvas, Acrylic
1990s Surrealist Art
Lithograph, Screen
1970s Surrealist Art
Lithograph
1960s Surrealist Art
Woodcut
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Art
Paper, Pen
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Art
Silk
Late 20th Century Surrealist Art
Board
1930s Surrealist Art
Lithograph
1990s Surrealist Art
Lithograph
1960s Surrealist Art
Tempera
1960s Surrealist Art
Drypoint, Etching
20th Century Surrealist Art
Lithograph, Offset
2010s Surrealist Art
Archival Paper, Color Pencil
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Art
Canvas, Acrylic
1960s Surrealist Art
Woodcut
1970s Surrealist Art
Woodcut