$540Sale Price|20% Off
Woodland Fancy, Mid-Century Fantastical Figurative Landscape 1969
Located in Soquel, CA
Signed "Kenneth Fong" and dated "7-15-69". Displayed in a painted wood frame and giltwood liner.
Paper, Gouache
$250Sale Price|61% Off
H 14 in W 11 in D 1.5 in
Vintage Italian Futurist Oil Painting "Fantasy Garden"
Located in Douglas Manor, NY
5-3271 Colorful Abstract on rapped canvas signed R.Zani
Oil
$1,275
H 46 in W 29 in D 2 in
Antique American Naturescape Abstract Modernist Landscape Original Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American exhibited oil painting by Grace McFarren. Oil on canvas. Signed. Framed. Measuring 29 by 49 inches overall and 26 by 46 painting alone.
Canvas, Oil
$5,500
H 24.25 in W 32.125 in D 4.5 in
The Mysteries of Life, Surrealist, Outsider Art Oil Painting
Located in Grand Rapids, MI
Jaro Hess (Czech/American, 1889-1979) Signed: Jaro Hess '66 (Lower, Right) " The Mysteries of Life ", 1966 (titled by provenance) Oil on Canvas laid on Masonite 18" x 26" Housed...
Canvas, Masonite, Oil
$1,600Sale Price|20% Off
H 16.5 in W 12.75 in
Strange Woods, 20th Century Surrealist Painting by Cleveland Artist
Located in Beachwood, OH
Gretchen Oldfather Troibner (American, b. 1953) Strange Woods Casein on paper Signed with monogram lower right 16.5 x 12.75 inches 27.5 x 22.5 inches Gretchen Troibner is an America...
Casein
J. E. Green - 20th Century Oil, A Moment in Nature
Located in Corsham, GB
A charming oil study of a woman sat beneath a tree in the centre of a meadow. The artist captures the scene in an expressive style using gestural brushwork. Signed to the lower right...
Oil
$3,819
H 42.52 in W 34.85 in D 1.38 in
Post-War Italian Figurative Dream Like Highly Decorative Framed Oil Painting
Located in Sutton Poyntz, Dorset
Luciano Sopelsa. Italian ( b.1921 - d.2010 ). Nudo Al Tramanto, 1975. (Nude At Sunset), 1975. Oil On Canvas. Signed Lower Right. Signed Again, Titles & Dated Verso. Image size ...
Canvas, Oil
Lost in Paradise, Original Painting
By Marie-Eve Champagne
Located in San Francisco, CA
Artist Comments
Inspired by her travels, artist Marie-Eve Champagne paints a curated collection of imagery that combines collage and surrealist pictorial approaches. Two oversi...
Acrylic
$1,871Sale Price|25% Off
H 24 in W 20 in D 2 in
Vintage American Modernist Surreal Erotic Composition Signed Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Vintage American modernist surreal painting. Oil on canvas, circa 1990. Signed. Image size 20L x 24H. Framing is available.
Canvas, Oil
$962Sale Price|20% Off
H 40 in W 29.5 in
Francine Braniard Signed French Surrealist Fantasy Figures Oil Painting
By FRANCINE BRANIARD
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Artist/ School: Francine Braniard (French contemporary), signed Key Details Artist: Francine Braniard, French contemporary, signed Title: La Source, titled verso and to exhibition l...
Oil
Fabulous Large-Scale Mid-Century Modern Landscape Oil Painting
Located in Pemberton, NJ
Fabulous large-scale Mid-Century Modern landscape oil painting. We love the size and subject matter of this gem of a painting from the Mid-Century. It is unsigned but it is well pain...
$514
H 19.69 in W 19.69 in D 0.71 in
Mavka and the Woodland Fairy: Enchanted Garden, "Gardens of Resilience" series
By Tetiana Pchelnykova
Located in Zofingen, AG
In this painting from the "Gardens of Freedom" series, a woodland garden unfolds before the viewer's eyes. Through the foliage, the face of Mavka emerges, with a fairy seated on her...
Canvas, Acrylic
$1,495
H 24 in W 30 in D 2 in
Vintage Signed Ethereal Modernist Forest Landscape Framed American Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Vintage American modernist oil painting. Oil on canvas. Signed verso. Framed. Measuring: 24 by 30 inches overall, and 22 by 28 painting alone. Excellent condition, ready to hang an...
Oil, Canvas
$796Sale Price|20% Off
H 18 in W 22 in D 2 in
Antique American Folk Art Modernist Figural Landscape Framed Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist folk art landscape by Malcah Zeldis., who also spent some time in Israel. Mixed media painting on paper. Framed. Signed. Measuring 18 by 22 inches overa...
Board, Watercolor, Archival Paper
$695
H 25 in W 21 in D 2 in
Vintage American Surreal Southern Willow Forest Interior Original Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Vintage American Surreal Southern Willow Forest Interior. Oil on board. Measuring: 25 by 21 inches overall, and 8 by 10 artwork alone.
Oil
$5,000
H 48 in W 60 in
Entrance to the Forest, Surrealist Oil Painting on Canvas by Michael Tice
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Michael Tice, American (1953 - ) Title: Entrance to the Forest Year: 1997 Medium: Oil on Canvas, signed and dated recto, signed, titled and dated verso Size: 48 x 60 in. (121...
Canvas, Oil
Vintage Signed Original Abstract Expressionist Oil Painting
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
A fabulous vintage Boho signed 1970s original oil painting. A chic Abstract composition with a annal,oat Alice In Wonderland style. Signed by the artist. Acquired from a Palm Beach e...
Metal
$355,297
H 52 in W 40 in D 2 in
Exotic - Scottish 1920's exhibited 'Glasgow Girl' art portrait oil painting
Located in Hagley, England
This stunning much exhibited 1920's Scottish portrait oil painting is by noted Glasgow Girl artist Norah Nielson Gray. Painted circa 1923, the model for the painting was Rita McIlrai...
Oil
$475Sale Price|20% Off
H 9.75 in W 13.5 in D 0.1 in
Ecole de Paris Mid 20th Century City Architectural Winter Scene
By Henri Miloch
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Paris: City Winter Scene by Henri Miloch (1898-1979) watercolour and gouache painting with charcoal on artist's paper, unframed Sheet: 9.75 x 13.5 inches Intriguing painting by the...
Watercolor, Gouache, Charcoal
$9,750
H 40 in W 32 in D 2 in
Stunning Art Deco Young Woman Portrait Framed Signed Rare Original Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Exquisite antique portrait painting of a young fashionable woman. Framed. Oil on canvas. Signed. Image size, 31H by 24L.
Canvas, Oil
While The Tide is Out, Provincetown
By Alexis Jean Fournier
Located in Milford, NH
A fine impressionist painting on the shore of Cape Cod with cottages, boats, and figures by American artist Alexis Jean Fournier (1865-1948). Fournier was born on the fourth of July ...
Canvas, Oil
$475
H 9 in W 12 in D 2 in
Antique American School Mid Century Modern Abstract Expressionist Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American school abstract expressionist painting. Oil on board. Signed. In excellent original condition. Nicely framed in a period wood molding. Excellent condition, read...
Oil
A Large Green Murano Chandelier
Located in New York, NY
A circa 1960's Italian green glass chandelier with 12 lights. Measurements: Diameter: 48" Height of body: 49" Minimum drop: 52"
Murano Glass
$1,475
H 22 in W 18 in D 2 in
Historically Important American Army Soldiers in Paris Cafe WPA Ashcan Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American oil painting. Oil on canvas. Measuring 18 by 22 inches.
Canvas, Oil
$796Sale Price|20% Off
H 26 in W 22 in D 2 in
Antique Impressionist European Harbor Signed Original Framed Coast Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique European impressionist harbor oil painting. Oil on board, circa 1920. Signed. Framed. Image size, 15"L x 18"H.
Canvas, Oil
$1,086Sale Price|36% Off
H 27.56 in W 21.26 in
Sorcière Bleue Color Lithograph on Arches Paper, Surrealist, E.A. 4/35
By Leonor Fini
Located in Sitges, Barcelona
Artist: Leonor Fini (Buenos Aires, 1907 – Paris, 1996) Title: Sorcière Bleue (Blue Witch) Date: ca. 1970–1972 Technique: Color lithograph on Arches paper Edition: E.A. 4/35 (Épreuve ...
Lithograph
$1,495
H 2 in W 37 in D 32 in
Garden Scene Oil Painting in Gilt Frame, Early 20th Century
Located in Rochester, NY
Garden scene by Agostos Acs (Hungarian 1889-1947). Oil on canvas. In great gilt frame, early 20th century. period sculpted artis...
Canvas, Oil
$4,650
H 34.75 in W 34.75 in D 1.25 in
Edward Marecak “Pods” Abstract Mid-Century Modern Oil Painting, 1960s
By Edward Marecak
Located in Denver, CO
Bold and highly collectible, “Pods” is an original mid-century modern abstract oil painting by renowned Colorado artist Edward Marecak. Known for his distinctive visual language that...
Oil
$1,020Sale Price|20% Off
H 27 in W 23 in D 2 in
Antique American School Trompe L'Oeil Artist Studio Interior Scene Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Wonderfully painted American modernist still life oil painting. Framed. Oil on canvas. Image size, 24H by 20L. Finely executed realist school.
Canvas, Oil
$411Sale Price|34% Off
H 13 in W 16.15 in
Costa Brava Oil Painting, Mediterranean Post-Impressionism, 1950s-60s
By Rafael Duran Benet
Located in Sitges, Barcelona
Title of the Artwork: Costa Brava Artist: Rafael Durán Benet (1931-2015) Technique: Oil on mounted panel Style: Mediterranean Post-Impressionism Dimensions (unframed): 13 x 16.1 inch...
Canvas, Oil, Board
Surrealist Vase
Located in Buffalo, NY
A modern surreal oil painting on linen depicting a vase with one yellow flower and a mysterious almost figural black design. This midcentury work is unsigned and comes housed in a pe...
Linen, Oil
Sailors at Cafe du Globe
By Charles Rocher
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Charles Rocher (1890-1962. Sailors, ca. 1920s. Gouache on paper. Sheet measures 19 x 25 inches. Considerable damage and loss as depicted. Signed lower left.
Gouache
$35,000
H 60 in W 48 in D 16 in
Antique Italian White Carrara Marble Sculpture After Louis-Simon Boizot
Located in Chicago, IL
Antique Italian White Carrara Marble Sculpture After "Toilette De Vénus", After Louis-Simon Boizot (1743-1809) The antique Italian white Carrara marble Sculpture after "Toilette De ...
Marble
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.
Figurative art, as opposed to abstract art, retains features from the observable world in its representational depictions of subject matter. Most commonly, figurative paintings reference and explore the human body, but they can also include landscapes, architecture, plants and animals — all portrayed with realism.
While the oldest figurative art dates back tens of thousands of years to cave wall paintings, figurative works made from observation became especially prominent in the early Renaissance. Artists like Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and other Renaissance masters created naturalistic representations of their subjects.
Pablo Picasso is lauded for laying the foundation for modern figurative art in the 1920s. Although abstracted, this work held a strong connection to representing people and other subjects. Other famous figurative artists include Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud. Figurative art in the 20th century would span such diverse genres as Expressionism, Pop art and Surrealism.
Today, a number of figural artists — such as Sedrick Huckaby, Daisy Patton and Eileen Cooper — are making art that uses the human body as its subject.
Because figurative art represents subjects from the real world, natural colors are common in these paintings. A piece of figurative art can be an exciting starting point for setting a tone and creating a color palette in a room.
Browse an extensive collection of figurative paintings on 1stDibs.