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Surrealist Art

8,862 Results
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
original lithograph

Jorge Camachooriginal lithograph, 1979

$100

original lithograph

By Jorge Camacho

Located in Henderson, NV

Medium: original lithograph. Printed in 1979 and published in Barcelona by La Poligrafa in an edition of 1000. Size: 10 x 7 1/2 inches (255 x 188 mm). Not signed.

Category

1970s Surrealist Art

Materials

Lithograph

Marc Chagall - Homage to Marc Chagall - Original Lithograph
Marc Chagall - Homage to Marc Chagall - Original Lithograph

Marc ChagallMarc Chagall - Homage to Marc Chagall - Original Lithograph, 1969

$1,449

Marc Chagall - Homage to Marc Chagall - Original Lithograph

By Marc Chagall

Located in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CH

Marc Chagall Original Lithograph 1969 From the revue XXe Siecle, edition of 12,000 Unsigned, as issued Dimensions: 32 x 24 Condition : Excellent Reference: Mourlot 572 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, where he would paint a series of murals titled Introduction to the Jewish Theater as well. In 1921, Chagall also found work as a teacher at a school for war orphans. By 1922, however, Chagall found that his art had fallen out of favor, and seeking new horizons he left Russia for good. Flight After a brief stay in Berlin, where he unsuccessfully sought to recover the work exhibited at Der Sturm before the war, Chagall moved his family to Paris in September 1923. Shortly after their arrival, he was commissioned by art dealer and publisher Ambroise Vollard to produce a series of etchings for a new edition of Nikolai Gogol's 1842 novel Dead Souls. Two years later Chagall began work on an illustrated edition of Jean de la Fontaine’s Fables, and in 1930 he created etchings for an illustrated edition of the Old Testament, for which he traveled to Palestine to conduct research. Chagall’s work during this period brought him new success as an artist and enabled him to travel throughout Europe in the 1930s. He also published his autobiography, My Life (1931), and in 1933 received a retrospective at the Kunsthalle in Basel, Switzerland. But at the same time that Chagall’s popularity was spreading, so, too, was the threat of Fascism and Nazism. Singled out during the cultural "cleansing" undertaken by the Nazis in Germany, Chagall’s work was ordered removed from museums throughout the country. Several pieces were subsequently burned, and others were featured in a 1937 exhibition of “degenerate art” held in Munich. Chagall’s angst regarding these troubling events and the persecution of Jews in general can be seen in his 1938 painting White Crucifixion. With the eruption of World War II, Chagall and his family moved to the Loire region before moving farther south to Marseilles following the invasion of France. They found a more certain refuge when, in 1941, Chagall’s name was added by the director of the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York City to a list of artists and intellectuals deemed most at risk from the Nazis’ anti-Jewish campaign. Chagall and his family would be among the more than 2,000 who received visas and escaped this way. Haunted Harbors Arriving in New York City in June 1941, Chagall discovered that he was already a well-known artist there and, despite a language barrier, soon became a part of the exiled European artist community. The following year he was commissioned by choreographer Léonide Massine to design sets and costumes for the ballet Aleko, based on Alexander Pushkin’s “The Gypsies” and set to the music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. But even as he settled into the safety of his temporary home, Chagall’s thoughts were frequently consumed by the fate befalling the Jews of Europe and the destruction of Russia, as paintings such as The Yellow Crucifixion...

Category

1960s Surrealist Art

Materials

Lithograph

Symphony Bicyclette
Symphony Bicyclette

Salvador Dalí­Symphony Bicyclette, 1970

$39,500

Symphony Bicyclette

By Salvador Dalí­

Located in Hollywood, FL

ARTIST: Salvador Dali TITLE: Symphony Bicyclette MEDIUM: Lithograph SIGNED: Hand Signed by Salvador Dali EDITION NUMBER: 52/200 MEASUREMENTS: 35.25" x 25.5" YEAR: 1970 FRAMED:...

Category

1970s Surrealist Art

Materials

Lithograph

Plate VI, Le Cocu Magnifique
Plate VI, Le Cocu Magnifique

Pablo PicassoPlate VI, Le Cocu Magnifique, 1968

$3,000

Plate VI, Le Cocu Magnifique

By Pablo Picasso

Located in Fairlawn, OH

Plate VI, Le Cocu Magnifique etching & aquatint, 1968 Unsigned as usual From the unsigned edition of 200 impressions printed on Rives BFK paper There is also a signed edition of 30 i...

Category

1960s Surrealist Art

Materials

Etching, Aquatint

Koala, Coral Reef, Original Painting
Koala, Coral Reef, Original Painting

Heejin SuttonKoala, Coral Reef, Original Painting, 2026

$475

Koala, Coral Reef, Original Painting

By Heejin Sutton

Located in San Francisco, CA

Artist Comments
A koala peeks out from a turquoise arch against a soft orange background. Across the composition, a coral reef sits within a smaller pink arch. Artist Heejin Su...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Art

Materials

Mixed Media

"Thirst" Black & White Photograph 49" x 39" in Limited Ed. 1/3 by Olha Stepanian
"Thirst" Black & White Photograph 49" x 39" in Limited Ed. 1/3 by Olha Stepanian

Olha Stepanian"Thirst" Black & White Photograph 49" x 39" in Limited Ed. 1/3 by Olha Stepanian, 2023

$2,350

"Thirst" Black & White Photograph 49" x 39" in Limited Ed. 1/3 by Olha Stepanian

By Olha Stepanian

Located in Culver City, CA

"Thirst" Black & White Photograph 49" x 39" in Limited Ed. 1/3 by Olha Stepanian Printed on Epson Professional Paper Signed and numbered by the artist Comes with COA issued by the ...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Art

Materials

Photographic Paper

Faust Vignettes Faust Lisant
Faust Vignettes Faust Lisant

Salvador Dalí­Faust Vignettes Faust Lisant, 1969

$4,000

Faust Vignettes Faust Lisant

By Salvador Dalí­

Located in Hollywood, FL

ARTIST: Salvador Dali TITLE: Faust Vignettes Faust Lisant MEDIUM: Etching SIGNED: Hand Signed PUBLISHER: Editions Argillet, Paris EDITION NUMBER: 24/100 MEASUREMENTS: 15" x 1...

Category

1960s Surrealist Art

Materials

Etching

Woman in a Dream. nr.1. Surrealist fantasy by spanish painter Antonio Monasterio
Woman in a Dream. nr.1. Surrealist fantasy by spanish painter Antonio Monasterio

Antonio MonasterioWoman in a Dream. nr.1. Surrealist fantasy by spanish painter Antonio Monasterio, 1980

$120Sale Price|20% Off

Woman in a Dream. nr.1. Surrealist fantasy by spanish painter Antonio Monasterio

Located in Firenze, IT

Antonio Monasterio - Woman in a Dream. no.1 Technique: Mixed media on paper (pastels, wax, and pen) Dimensions: Approximately 45 x 55 cm Period: 1970s This work presents an enigmatic...

Category

1980s Surrealist Art

Materials

Paper, Wax Crayon, Ink, Tempera, Pen

Surrealist Mineral Landscape Spanish Catalan Oil Canvas Painting Dalí Circle art
Surrealist Mineral Landscape Spanish Catalan Oil Canvas Painting Dalí Circle art

Antoni PitxotSurrealist Mineral Landscape Spanish Catalan Oil Canvas Painting Dalí Circle art, 1985

$9,856Sale Price|29% Off

Surrealist Mineral Landscape Spanish Catalan Oil Canvas Painting Dalí Circle art

By Antoni Pitxot

Located in Sitges, Barcelona

Dalí Circle Surrealist Mineral Landscape, Spanish Catalan Oil Painting Artist: Antoni Pitxot Soler / Antoni Pichot Soler (Figueres, 1934 – 2015) Title: Surrealist Mineral Landscape Date: 1985 Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 50 × 61 cm / 19.7 × 24 in Framing: Unframed Signature: Signed and dated lower right Condition: Very good overall condition. Stable canvas and paint layer. Rich surface texture, visible impasto and original brushwork. Description Powerful surrealist oil painting by Antoni Pitxot Soler, one of the most important Catalan artists connected to Salvador Dalí’s inner circle and a key figure in the visual universe of Cadaqués and Figueres. Painted in 1985, this work belongs to Pitxot’s mature period and presents one of his most recognizable subjects: a dreamlike mineral landscape built from stones, fragments, shells, fossil-like forms and metamorphic shapes. The composition seems suspended between landscape, archaeology and hallucination, where inert matter becomes almost alive. The painting is especially strong visually. The lower section is constructed through a dense accumulation of sculptural forms, painted with thick, expressive brushwork and a refined chromatic range of blues, ochres, pinks, whites, greys and earthy tones. Above them, a floating organic form...

Category

1980s Surrealist Art

Materials

Oil

Trasfiguration d'un Cactus - Etching by Man Ray - 1960s
Trasfiguration d'un Cactus - Etching by Man Ray - 1960s

Man RayTrasfiguration d'un Cactus - Etching by Man Ray - 1960s, 1960s

$2,087

Trasfiguration d'un Cactus - Etching by Man Ray - 1960s

By Man Ray

Located in Roma, IT

Color etching and aquatint realized in 1969/71. Hand signed and numbered in pencil. Edition of 99. Published by Georges Visat, Paris. Ref. Anselmino 29E Very good condition.

Category

1960s Surrealist Art

Materials

Etching

Star Wars Galaxy Darth Vader 1994 Signed Limited Edition Lithograph
Star Wars Galaxy Darth Vader 1994 Signed Limited Edition Lithograph

Ken SteacyStar Wars Galaxy Darth Vader 1994 Signed Limited Edition Lithograph, 1994

$750

Star Wars Galaxy Darth Vader 1994 Signed Limited Edition Lithograph

Located in Rochester Hills, MI

Ken Steacy 1994 Signed Limited Edition Star Wars Galaxy Darth Vader "Galaxy" 1994 Artist: Ken Steacy Medium: Lithograph Arches Paper Paper Size: 23½" x 30" inches Image Size: 17½" x...

Category

1990s Surrealist Art

Materials

Lithograph

Vintage American Modernist Surreal Abstract Figural Signed Framed Oil Painting
Vintage American Modernist Surreal Abstract Figural Signed Framed Oil Painting

Vintage American Modernist Surreal Abstract Figural Signed Framed Oil Painting, 1960

$1,495

Vintage American Modernist Surreal Abstract Figural Signed Framed Oil Painting

Located in Buffalo, NY

Vintage American modernist surreal figural painting. Oil on canvas. Signed. Framed. Provenance from a Sag Harbor, NY collection. Measuring: 23 by 29 inches overall. Handsomely frame...

Category

1960s Surrealist Art

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Figurative Mixed Media Bust Sculpture in Ceramic Oxides and Carved Fir Wood
Figurative Mixed Media Bust Sculpture in Ceramic Oxides and Carved Fir Wood

Óscar Aldonza TorresFigurative Mixed Media Bust Sculpture in Ceramic Oxides and Carved Fir Wood, 2021

$2,968Sale Price|20% Off

Figurative Mixed Media Bust Sculpture in Ceramic Oxides and Carved Fir Wood

By Óscar Aldonza Torres

Located in FISTERRA, ES

This figurative mixed media bust sculpture in ceramic, metallic oxides and carved fir wood opens with a strong emphasis on material expression and emotional tension. The work belongs to the Xentes series, a body of sculptures by the Spanish artist Óscar Aldonza Torres that explores the dialogue between individuality and collective identity. The piece combines high-temperature ceramic for the head—treated with oxides and imitation gold leaf—with a tall fir-wood torso...

Category

2010s Surrealist Art

Materials

Metal, Gold Leaf

Turtle (Comanche Native American surrealist painting)
Turtle (Comanche Native American surrealist painting)

Turtle (Comanche Native American surrealist painting), ca. 1975

$450Sale Price|50% Off

Turtle (Comanche Native American surrealist painting)

Located in Wilton Manors, FL

Turtle, ca. 1975-80. Gouache on Arches rag paper, Sheet measures 23 x 30 inches. Image measures 22 x 29 inches. Signed lower left. Excellent condition. Unframed.

Category

1970s Surrealist Art

Materials

Gouache, Rag Paper

Sans Titre
Sans Titre

Roberto MattaSans Titre, 1968

$1,200

Sans Titre

By Roberto Matta

Located in San Francisco, CA

This artwork titled "Sans Titre" 1968, is an original color lithograph on Arches paper by renown Chilean artist Roberto Sebastian Matta, 1911-2002. It is hand signed and numbered 30/...

Category

Mid-20th Century Surrealist Art

Materials

Lithograph

Eight Mortal Sins Complete Suite
Eight Mortal Sins Complete Suite

Salvador Dalí­Eight Mortal Sins Complete Suite, 1966

$19,500

Eight Mortal Sins Complete Suite

By Salvador Dalí­

Located in Hollywood, FL

ARTIST: Salvador Dali TITLE: 8 Mortal Sins Suite Anger Avarice Dalinean Envy Gluttony Lust Pride Sloth MEDIUM: 8 Etchings SIGNED: Each piece is Hand Signed PUBLISHER: Jean Schne...

Category

1960s Surrealist Art

Materials

Etching

Dance around a shared spot, Hand Printed Work, Woodcut

Barbara KuebelDance around a shared spot, Hand Printed Work, Woodcut, 2020

$2,189

Dance around a shared spot, Hand Printed Work, Woodcut

By Barbara Kuebel

Located in Yardley, PA

I dissolved these figures through a dynamic form the same way as liquids are spilled on a table. The outcome is an almost floral shape which I then printed in dark blue/ purple. The ...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Art

Materials

Woodcut

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.

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