Dali Minotaur
1960s Surrealist Figurative Prints
Woodcut
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist More Art
Oil
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Surrealist Figurative Sculptures
Bronze
1960s Surrealist Abstract Prints
Etching
20th Century Abstract Prints and Multiples
Paint
Mid-19th Century Surrealist Figurative Sculptures
Bronze
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1970s Pop Art Portrait Prints
Lithograph
Vintage 1930s Italian Art Deco Cabinets
Glass, Mirror, Wood, Maple, Walnut, Parchment Paper
17th Century Portrait Paintings
Oil
20th Century Unknown Rustic Ladders
Iron
Antique Late 19th Century French Louis XV Musical Instruments
Wood, Giltwood
Antique 17th Century Italian Baroque Armchairs
Velvet, Walnut
Antique Late 18th Century British Chippendale Dining Room Chairs
Oak
Antique Early 1900s French Vanities
Onyx, Brass
20th Century American Art Nouveau Glass
Glass
1910s Art Deco Nude Sculptures
Bronze
Antique 1860s Italian High Victorian Benches
Oak
Antique 1820s English Snuff Boxes and Tobacco Boxes
Sterling Silver
20th Century Russian Table Clocks and Desk Clocks
Gold, Enamel
Antique Early 1900s French Greco Roman Figurative Sculptures
Marble
Antique Late 19th Century French Baroque Floor Lamps
Marble, Ormolu, Bronze
17th Century Old Masters Still-life Paintings
Canvas, Oil
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A Close Look at 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.
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