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Surrealist Paintings

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
Color:  Brown
Guardian of the Ancestral Land
Located in Singapore, SG
We believe in life after death, where the spirits of our ancestors reside. In Javanese tradition, they believe that ancestral spirits are always with us and take care of us even thou...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Tamansari Swara
Located in Singapore, SG
Tamansariswara is a fun learning concept as taught by the father of Indonesian education, KH Dewantara. He called the school a 'taman' which means a park, a place to play and learn i...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

'Story Time', Paris, Salon d'Automne, New York, ASL, Corcoran, PAFA, Art Deco
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Signed lower left 'Nura' for Nura Woodson Ulreich (American, 1899–1950). Additionally signed, verso, dated March 1928 with artist's New York City ...
Category

1920s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Illustration Board

Venezuelan Surrealism Architectural Oil Painting Emerio Lunar Latin American Art
Located in Surfside, FL
Provenance: Galeria Durban Cesar Segnini, Caracas Venezuela. Emerio Dario Lunar was born on January 27, 1940 in Cabimas, Zulia state. Self-taught ...
Category

1980s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Vintage Signed Surreal Street Scene Skeleton Modernist Landscape Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist surreal oil painting. Oil on canvas. Framed. Signed illegibly.
Category

1930s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Vortex XVI, Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
Light is streaming out of the vortex, looking into a ray of hope. Shipping: if your country is not in the shipping table contact me and I'll get a price. :: Painting :: Surreali...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil

Platypus Conundrum
Located in Santa Monica, CA
Original painting by artist Airom
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Archival Ink, Oil

Modern Figurative Surrealism Watercolor Painting, Drawing 'Faces of Deceit'
Located in Surfside, FL
On heavy Arches deckle edged paper. This combines text or poetry in calligraphy on the side. Gary Hansmann (1947-2008) was active/lived in California. He is known for abstract, Surrealism figure painting. Gary William Hansmann was born Dec. 4, 1940, in San Diego to Ethel May Williams and Lester Hughes Hansmann. He grew up in Encinitas and served in the Army in the early 1960s. Gary Hansmann, San Diego artist, teacher and gallery owner, was known for his Surrealist nude and animal drawings and graphics. He spent time working in Paris and exhibiting his art throughout Europe, but San Diego was home until he moved to Washington state. His life partner was fellow artist, Jill Hosmer. Mr. Hansmann, a respected printmaker and prolific artist, created thousands of drawings, prints and paintings as well as hundreds of poems. His interest in bullfighting led to a book of poetry and illustrations on the subject, “La Corrida, The Run”, a collection of poetry & artwork written as he was preparing for his first bullfight. Prologue written by famous Mexican Matador Antonio Lomelin. The book is written in English and translated into Spanish on opposing pages and was published in 1983. Mr. Hansmann taught intaglio and monotype at the Academy of Fine Arts in San Diego from 1977 to 1980 and at the San Diego Museum of Art in 1980. He also gave lectures and demonstrations throughout the art community, including at the San Diego Art Guild in Del Mar and Artist Equity in San Diego. Although he attended Palomar College in San Marcos and studied lithography at the San Diego Academy of Fine Arts, Mr. Hansmann was mostly self-taught and self-educated. Mr. Hansmann had shows in several art-world capitals, including Paris; Lisbon, Portugal; Cologne, Germany; Brussels, Belgium; and New York. he had one-person exhibits at the Loft Gallery in Clarkston, the Lewis-Clark State College Center of Arts & History, the Carnegie Art Center in Walla Walla and the Valley Art Center in Clarkston. During his long, distinguished career as an artist he had numerous one-person exhibits all over the world and the United States. His group shows are too numerous to mention, but his one-person exhibits were in Koln, Germany; Bruxelles, Belgium; Paris, France; Viana do Castelo, Portugal; Lisbon, Portugal; Tecate, Mexico; and British Columbia, Canada; and many states at home. Palomar College, San Marcos, Calif. San Diego Academy of Fine Arts Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, N.Y. University of Southern California, Idyllwild (ISOMATA) University of San Diego San Diego Museum of Art James Copley Library, La Jolla, Calif. Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Venice, Italy Centre de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal Museo Taurino de la Communidad de Madrid, Madrid, Spain Atelier Lacouriere et Frelaut, Paris, France Gordon Gilkey Collection Portland Art Museum, Portland, Or. Coos Art Museum, Coos Bay...
Category

1980s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Paper, India Ink, Watercolor

Micro Gestalt Series #3b
Located in Santa Monica, CA
Acrylic and ink on canvas.
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Ink, Acrylic

Gerard Tunney, Dancers with Fans, Original surreal painting
Located in Deddington, GB
A group of dancers chat and gossip using the fans to emphasise l their reactions The triangles of the fans are echoed throughout the painting; in the dancers’ feet, the dancers’ arms...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

French Surrealist Colorful Futurist Abstract Painting Composition III
Located in Surfside, FL
actual image measures 7.5X11.25, titled Composition III on French Arches Mould made paper. Georges DUSSAU est né le 14 Mars 1947, à Chalon-sur-Saône (France) Il vit et travaille...
Category

20th Century Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Acrylic, Gouache, Handmade Paper

French Surrealist Colorful Futurist Abstract Painting Composition IV
Located in Surfside, FL
actual image measures 7.5X11.25, titled Composition III on French Arches Mould made paper. Georges DUSSAU est né le 14 Mars 1947, à Chalon-sur-Saône (France) Il vit et travaille...
Category

20th Century Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Acrylic, Gouache, Handmade Paper

Large Signed Surreal Nude Male Portrait Symbolist Landscape Framed Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American school modernist landscape with male figures. Really well painted and a very interesting composition. Impressive giltwood frame as well! Signed and dated lower ri...
Category

1990s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Horse acrylic on canvas painting surrealism
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Canvas measures 38x38 cm. Frameless. Venezuelan artist, he is a painter of multiple disciplines, he likes to work the texture in his works.
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Acrylic, Canvas

Italian Surrealist Oil Painting Jean Calogero Big Eyed Girl Doll Mandolin Flower
Located in Surfside, FL
Frame is 12 X 10. Canvas is 9.5 X 7.5 Calogero was born August 20, 1922 in Catania, Sicily. Self-taught Surreal Artist First exhibitions in 1945 in Sicily and Rome were very successful. He arrived in Paris in 1947 and studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. He is best known for his Surrealism and genre works. His paintings are dreamlike and visionary. They travel to an infinite space created by the artist through his memories, the sky and the sea so dear to him. In his paintings there are a few common themes: the masks with their dual dimensions that hide or shows only what you want, the profiles of the women, and the horsemen, drawn as the Sicilian tradition requires. He exhibited at the Gallery Hervé in 1951 and the following year he went to New York to present his show, then in 1953 he was invited to Los Angeles, where he returned two years later, and from where he regularly exhibited his works, and San Francisco. In 1954, Maximilien Gauthier devoted a book to him published by "The Gemini." The first exhibition in Japan was in 1965. He was awarded the Grand Silver Medal by the City of Paris in 1957. Calogero had countless exhibitions in Paris, in the fifties, plus the American exhibitions in New York (Associated American Artists, 1952), Los Angeles (James Vigevano Galleries, 1953) and then later in Japan and in major galleries in Italy. He lived and worked for many years in Paris and Italy. He died in 2001. Galerie Hervè, Parigi 1950. Associated American Artists - New York 1952. James Vigevano Galleries, Los Angeles 1953. Galerie Madsen, Parigi 1954/1960. Antologica, Tokyo 1965. Galleria La Robinia, Palermo 1969. Florida Gallery, Chicago 1970. Galleria Il Cavalletto, Catania 1971. Galleria De Rosa, Milano 1972. Galleria Pinacoteca, Roma; L'Incontro, Taranto 1973. Galleria Idea-Bellini, Firenze; David Galleries, Bari; Palazzo Melloni, L'incontro, Bologna; Galleria Schettini, Milano; Galleria Pinacoteca, Roma; Galleria La Meridiana, Verona; Pier della Francesca, Arezzo 1974. Galleria L'isolotto, Napoli; Pinacoteca, Roma; Galleria del Corso, Latina 1975. Galleria Michelangelo, Firenze; Pinacoteca, Roma 1977. Galleria Robert...
Category

Mid-20th Century Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

French Surrealist Colorful Futurist Abstract Painting Composition I
Located in Surfside, FL
actual image measures 11.25x7.5, titled Composition V on French Arches Mould made paper. Georges DUSSAU est né le 14 Mars 1947, à Chalon-sur-Saône (France) Il vit et travaille a...
Category

20th Century Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Acrylic, Gouache, Handmade Paper

French Surrealist Colorful Futurist Abstract Painting Composition V
Located in Surfside, FL
actual image measures 11.25x7.5, titled Composition V on French Arches Mould made paper. Georges DUSSAU est né le 14 Mars 1947, à Chalon-sur-Saône (France) Il vit et travaille a...
Category

20th Century Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Acrylic, Gouache, Handmade Paper

The Sun, 20th Century Magic Realism Painting by Cleveland School Artist
By Paul Riba
Located in Beachwood, OH
Paul Riba (American, 1912-1977) The Sun Oil on masonite Signed lower right, titled verso 14 x 21.5 inches 20.75 x 28.25 inches, framed Paul Riba was a painter of Magic Realism. He ...
Category

20th Century Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Masonite, Oil

Amédée Ozenfant - Nature morte, Tabagie, french, modern, still life, surreal
Located in London, GB
signed ‘ozenfant’ (lower right) Provenance: Sale: Christie's London, 4 April 1989, lot 198 Dr. Arthur Brandt, New York (acquired at the above sale) Literature: P. & M. Guénégan, 'A...
Category

1960s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

French Surrealist Theater Stage Design Large Gouache Painting
Located in Surfside, FL
This is for a French Avant garde theatre stage design. it depicts a man in sunglasses , coat and scarf in a wheelchair. (Eugene Ionesco) Grégoire Michonze...
Category

1960s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Panel

"Joker", Igor Samsonov, Original Oil on Canvas, Surrealism, Figurative, 60.5x39
Located in Dallas, TX
"The Joker" by Igor Samsonov is an Oil on Canvas painting measuring 60.5x39 and is a prime colorful example of figurative surrealism at its finest. His dark colors of deep blue and g...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

European Polish Stage Designer Vibrant Surrealist Oil Painting
Located in Surfside, FL
Genre: Contemporary Subject: Abstract Medium: Mixed Media Surface: Canvas Country: United States commissions for movie advertisements, stage sets, and murals in New Hampshire. Arm...
Category

20th Century Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Mixed Media

Untitled
Located in Lawrence, NY
Pastel and colored pencil on paper Samuel Esses, estate of Samuel Esses, thence by descenbt Never afraid of trying new styles, curious and opinionated, constantly engaged with the ...
Category

1940s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Pastel

Untitled, Surrealist Landscape
Located in Lawrence, NY
Gouache on artist board Provenance: Estate of Sam Esses Never afraid of trying new styles, curious and opinionated, constantly engaged with the world around him, Rolph Scarlett mor...
Category

1940s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Gouache

It's the Perfect Day, but It's Getting Late - realism surrealistic oil painting
Located in London, Chelsea
This contemporary landscape painting by Laurence O’Toole renders a dreamlike atmosphere. The artist conveys a scene that wistfully featuring a delicate still life study, suffused with golden highlights and indicated in front of a backdrop of an impression of blush pink and pastel hued clouds. This glowing scene exudes intriguing joy and energy, presenting a magical ambience implied in realistic tones and paint strokes, captured during the night. The sensitivity employed in this piece draws attention to the beauty and enigmatic glamour of delicate objects. This original artwork is painted in oils on canvas, hand signed by the artist and ready to be displayed. Laurence O’Toole is a realist painter in both oil and acrylic, whose work is a melding of figurative and nature with a surrealist approach to convey the message in his works. A self taught artist from Ireland...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Linen, Acrylic

"Opulence 12" Mixed Media Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Aiden Kringen's (US based) "Opulence 12" is an original handmade oil painting that is unframed, but ready to hang. About the Artist: A kaleidoscopic fantasia—crystalline planes floating in space, nestling together like immaculate puzzle pieces—abstract nebulae, human figures and faces enveloped in swirling fields or particles of energy—these number among the images evoked by the hauntingly enigmatic paintings of artist Aiden Kringen. Within this worldview a mysterious network of interlocking planes becomes visible to the beholder: mystical fields of unknown substance revealed as the building blocks of our bodies and semblances, surrounding, cocooning, perhaps even protecting us. It is a vision verging on the mystical, which Kringen portrays through a distinctive style: a fractured, cubistic mode of conscious- ness in which multiple dimensions or perspectives assimilate into an ecstatic whole. The artist deploys this style in opulent and seductive portraits as well as abstract tableaux whose optical signature is magnified by compositional dynamism and deeply layered surfaces. Born in Los Angeles in 1992, Kringen lived variously in the American West and Mexico—Sebastopol, Jalisco, Portland, Flagstaff—before settling in the hill- and vineyard-dotted environs of Sonoma, County, where he is now based. In these very different environments, each of which possesses a uniquely picturesque natural beauty, the artist began from an early age to develop his aesthetic approach. He has always had a keen eye for detail, grounded in a gift for looking closely at the human experience. “I’ve always been interested in observing people,” he recalls, “and in the details of how we interact with one another.” He put this natural ability to task when he began working on illustration and graphic-design projects while in high school. From his mother, an artist and graphic designer, he learned the fundamentals of composition and typography, the nuances of positive and negative space and the relationships between them. Using sheets of Letracet—a system for transfer- ring typeface—proved particularly instrumental in developing a methodology for layering and collage, which continue to inform his works on canvas and paper. He learned old-school tech- niques, hands-on and mechanical, in keeping with a Bauhaus-like appreciation for perfectionism, integrity, and hard work. Kringen began painting at 14. Then as now, drawing was central to his approach. He studied vintage anatomy atlases and drew meticulously in his journals, working through myriad permutations of bones and skin, angle and pose, muscles in motion. Honing his natural talent for figuration through long and exhaustive study, he arrived at an understanding of the figure that is both intuitive and virtuosic. On acrylic and mixed media on canvas, Kringen lays down linework with a Micron pen in ever-more-complex compositions, often with the addition of gloss mediums to bring out the layers’ reflectivity and prismatic character. In some pieces he incorporates gold and silver leaf to heighten drama and luxuriance, recalling the mosaic-like work of Gustav Klimt—who, along with fellow Austri- an Expressionist Egon Schiele, stands among Kringen’s most prominent influences. It was in 2011 that he began painting in the style with which he is now most associated: a technique fusing drawing and painting, line and brushstroke, with fragmented shapes undergirding the imag- ery. Notably, this is not simply a stylistic conceit, but more a way of perceiving reality. “Ever since I was young,” Kringen notes, “I’ve spent most of my time observing people: trying to break people down, in a visual sense, into small categorizations of their features, their mannerisms, the way they twitch their nose...” His hypersensitivity to likeness and gesture is key, for this is what distinguishes his portraits from those by artists who strive to depict idealized beauty as an end in itself. Yes, there is an undeniable beauty to Kringen’s subjects, but it does not follow strictly conventional paradigms. There is an individuality, a capturing of idiosyncracies and eccentricities, of optimism and fatalism, light and dark, in his work. He is not painting archetypes, but rather illuminating the essential charac- ters of real people in a highly refined genre of psychological portraiture. The fragmented linework, the grids of planes he uses as lenses to focus these characteristics, is sui generis but never gimmicky; above all it is a tool for defining and refining the features of the face, adding depth and definition. In his abstract work he uses similar techniques, paring the fabric of perception itself down to bare essentials of form, color, and texture. The abstract pieces are simultaneously elegant and complex, combining the sweeping gesturalism of Abstract Expressionism with the rigorous structure of geomet- ric painting. Across the breadth of his output Kringen balances technical and thematic polarities into bracing integrations of sensuality and grittiness, inviting contemplation into the nature of opticality and the infinite possibilities of the seen and unseen. —Richard Speer is a contributor to ARTnews, Artpulse, Visual Art Source, and Surface Design. His essays and reviews have appeared in The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, The New York Post, The Oregonian, Salon, Newsweek, and Opera News. He is the author of “Matt Lamb...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Acrylic

Capturing Clouds - realism magical landscape surrealistic oil painting modern
Located in London, Chelsea
This contemporary landscape painting by Laurence O’Toole renders a dreamlike atmosphere. The artist conveys a scene wistfully featuring rich colours emphasising a phenomenal natural ...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Linen, Acrylic

Yemaya Desembarcar, colorful mythic woman in ocean seascape at beach
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Large mythic seascape painting of woman in blue evening gown at the beach Mr. Basso's work is known for ironic, fantastic, and clever narrative elem...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Italian Surrealist "Butterflies Under the Sea, 1962" Painting
By Giordano Falzoni
Located in Surfside, FL
Genre: Contemporary Subject: Abstract Medium: Oil Surface: Canvas Country: Italy Dimensions: 19 3/4" x 15 1/2" x 3/4" Dimensions w/Frame: 26" x 22" Giordano Falzoni (Italian, 1925-...
Category

1960s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Still life with peppers - Figurative Oil Painting, Realism, Polish art
Located in Warsaw, PL
ZBIGNIEW WOZNIAK (b. 1952) Studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wroclaw, at the Department of Glass and Ceramics. He is involved in painting, graphics and artistic glass design. He...
Category

Early 2000s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Nature Morte
Located in New York, NY
Serge Clement Nature Morte, 1963 Signed lower right Clement 1963 Oil on canvas, still life. (Frame) H 25" x W 28.75" (Sight) H 18" x H 21"
Category

1960s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Angel's Whisper, Figurative, Original oil Painting, Ready to Hang, Framed
Located in Granada Hills, CA
Work: Original Oil Painting, Handmade Artwork, One of a Kind Medium: Oil on Canvas Year: 2018 Style: Surrealism, Title: Angel's Whisper, Size: 35" x 48" x 1'' inch, 89x122.5x6 cm, Fr...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Man and Spirit Wolf (Comanche Native American surrealist painting)
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Larry Hood (Native American, 1950-1995). Man and Spirit Wolf, ca. 1975-80. Gouache on Arches rag paper, Sheet measures 23 x 30 inches. Image measures 22 x 2...
Category

1970s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Gouache, Rag Paper

French Surrealist Abstract Painting
Located in Surfside, FL
Georges DUSSAU est né le 14 Mars 1947, à Chalon-sur-Saône (France) Il vit et travaille à Mellecey (France) et à Mougins (France) 1962 - 1963 - 1964 - Ecole de dessin - Chalon-su...
Category

20th Century Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas

Surrealist School, Oil On Hardboard
Located in SAINT-OUEN-SUR-SEINE, FR
Surrealist school. Oil on hardboard panel. Corners a little cropped. 31.5 x 39.5cm.
Category

20th Century Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil

Last Resort
Located in Wareham, GB
Last Resort is a good example of Hundertmark's narrative painting style. There are mixed media collage areas covered in oil paint with glimpses of collage visible. The picture descri...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Mixed Media, Oil

Surrealist Colorful Portrait of a Couple, Family at Play
By Dan Solojoff
Located in Surfside, FL
Dan Solojoff, Russian (1908 - 1994) Daniil Andreyevich Solojef born in St. Petersburg on February 27 (February 14) 1908 and died on 21 in Paris 1, is a poet, painter and illustrator...
Category

20th Century Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Gouache, Board

Nude Figurative in Oil on Artist's Board
Located in Soquel, CA
Nude study by Andy Smith (American, 20th Century). A woman is seated, slightly leaning to the left of the composition. The background fades from a rusty red to a dark blue, changing ...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Illustration Board, Canvas, Oil

All the Shock Was Spent and Nothing Seemed to Lean, surrealist oil painting
Located in New York, NY
Eileen Murphy’s paintings on panels are a mirage of disparate memories. Lived experience, borrowed art historical footnotes, and imagery drawn from literary references swirl together and coalesce into shimmering sylvan scenes. Allusions to Patinir, Jacob von Ruisdael, Frederick Church, lines pulled from Rilke, and Murphy’s own personal history emerge deftly from the same brushstroke. The result is images that are simultaneously foreign and familiar, deeply intimate yet shared in a common vernacular. Murphy builds these compositions from layers of carefully applied oil paint, her brushstrokes growing increasingly specific and nuanced with each new stratum. Because she works on panel, the pigment is not absorbed into the material, but rather, sits atop the surface, the color remaining fully saturated. Without this anchoring effect, Murphy’s landscapes become lofty and voluminous, further intensifying their surrealist quality. Eileen Murphy has spent her life along the Hudson River and has lived in Brooklyn, NY for the last seventeen years. Her current paintings are based on the landscape of Columbia County, NY, where she and her dog Frito spend part of their time. Eileen has shown widely and has attended residencies to the Vermont Studio Center, Yaddo, and the High Line 9. She received the Individual Artist Award from the Santo Foundation in 2017; in that same year, she was invited by the US Department of State to participate in the Art in the Embassies program, which brought her to Algeria. She is currently the Lead Faculty in Drawing, Painting, and Printmaking in the MFA program at the Institute of Art and Design at New England College. Her most recent solo show in New York City was at Sears Peyton...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil

Italian Modernist Surrealist Woman Colorful Oil Painting Lazzaro Donati
Located in Surfside, FL
Lazzaro Donati (Italian, 1926-1977) Oil on board. Colorful woman. Hand signed upper right. signed, titled on back of panel. Dimensions: (Frame) H 37" x W 29", (Panel) H 27.5" x W 20" Lazzaro Donati was born in Florence and attended the Academy of Fine Arts. He began to paint in 1953, and in 1955 held his first exhibition at the Indiano Gallery in Florence. Within three years eleven exhibitions followed in Italy, and as his reputation grew he was invited to give major exhibitions in London, Paris, New York, Chicago, Rio de Janeiro and Montevideo. He is considered one of the foremost contemporary Italian painters and his paintings hang in museums and private collections throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. His work i faucist recalling the works of the french Raoul Dufy, Dunoyer de Segonzac, Francois Gall and Jean Jansem. This particular work is reminiscent of the work of Manolo Valdes. Donati lived and worked at 24 Piazza Donatello in Florence, the square where generations of artists have created works worthy of the great Florentine tradition. As you entered the narrow hallway to his studio, a gilded life-size Venetian angel beckoned you to his door. Once inside, the present faded away and you found yourself in an atelier where early masters might have worked during the Renaissance. Within, luxurious Persian rugs set off the innumerable objects d’art and antique furnishings. Light poured in through the sloping glass wall on the north side. A dramatic stairway led to an overhanging balcony which served as a private gallery where the artist hung some of his favorite early works. To the left of the entrance was a smaller studio where Donati sculpted, with a window overlooking the famous old English cemetery where tourists laid flowers on the grave of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. In the main studio itself, where Donati received his clients in an atmosphere as polished as an office of a top executive, one hardly realized that it was here that the artist actually painted. His easel was covered with Persian blue velvet, the painting on the easel was already framed, his chair was upholstered in red velvet and on his palette the colors were arranged with the precision of a Byzantine mosaic. In a corner stand were his latest works, framed and ready to be sent off to his next exhibition in Europe or America. He spoke fluent French and English as well as some Spanish and German. “After all”, he said, “you've got to know how to sell...
Category

1960s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Panel

Rainforest Parrots
Located in Los Angeles, CA
The figurative surrealistic paintings of Carlos Gamez de Francisco are heavily influenced by his Cuban upbringing in a Russian governed academia setting. This presence exposed Franci...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Saint Sebastian Dream - original painting on round canvas Paula Craioveanu
Located in Forest Hills, NY
Inspired by the St Sebastian religious paintings, this double portrait is a dreamlike superimposed view of an expressive and sensual figure. St Sebastian, acrylic on canvas, 20in, r...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Still life with pumpkin - Figurative Oil Painting, Realism, Polish art
Located in Warsaw, PL
ZBIGNIEW WOZNIAK (b. 1952) Studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wroclaw, at the Department of Glass and Ceramics. He is involved in painting, graphics and artistic glass design. He...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Unconscious Female Force
Located in Delray Beach, FL
Unconscious Female Force Signed and dated lower right, canvas 43x51 with frame 45x53 Born in 1950 Vina Del Mar Chile. Already when a child his drawings and paintings were noticed by the public. From 1966 to 1969 he attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Valparaiso where he received awards every year. Very soon he exhibited his works that document his specific interest in the portrayal of man in Chile. In the age of 24 he went abroad having exhibition in several Latin American countries. In 1983 he joined the League Art Student of New York. Duran developed his style which distinguishes him from present day currents. His work was exhibited in Europe, South America and USA recently his work was exhibited in Chile. Ivan Duran Garlick...
Category

1990s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Viviane French Original Surrealist Lithograph signed and numbered Andre Masson
Located in Surfside, FL
His early works display an interest in cubism. He later became associated with surrealism, and he was one of the most enthusiastic employers of automatic drawing, making a number of automatic works in pen and ink. Masson would often force himself to work under strict conditions, for example, after long periods of time without food or sleep, or under the influence of drugs. He believed forcing himself into a reduced state of consciousness would help his art be free from rational control, and hence get closer to the workings of his subconscious mind.[citation needed] Masson experimented with altered states of consciousness with artists such as Antonin Artaud, Michel Leiris, Joan Miró, Georges Bataille, Jean Dubuffet, and Georges Malkine, who were neighbors of his studio in Paris. From around 1926 he experimented by throwing sand and glue onto canvas and making oil paintings based around the shapes that formed. By the end of the 1920s, however, he was finding automatic drawing rather restricting, and he left the surrealist movement and turned instead to a more structured style, often producing works with a violent or erotic theme, and making a number of paintings in reaction to the Spanish Civil War (he associated once more with the surrealists at the end of the 1930s). Under the German occupation of France during World War II, his work was condemned by the Nazis as degenerate. With the assistance of Varian Fry in Marseille, Masson escaped the Nazi regime on a ship to the French island of Martinique from where he went on to the United States. Upon arrival in New York City, U.S. customs officials inspecting Masson's luggage found a cache of his erotic drawings. Denouncing them as pornographic, they ripped them up before the artist's eyes.[citation needed] Living in New Preston, Connecticut his work became an important influence on American abstract expressionists, such as Jackson Pollock. Following the war, he returned to France and settled in Aix-en-Provence where he painted a number of landscapes. Masson drew the cover of the first issue of Georges Bataille's review, Acéphale, in 1936, and participated in all its issues until 1939. His brother-in-law, the psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan...
Category

1970s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Lithograph

Musicians, Figurative Surrealism, Original oil Painting, Ready to Hang
Located in Granada Hills, CA
Work: Original Oil Painting, Handmade Artwork, One of a Kind Medium: Oil on Canvas Year: 2020 Style: Surrealism, Subject: Musicians, Size: 30" x 40" x 1'' inch, 76x101.5x6 cm, Framed...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Question of Time - original painting on round canvas Paula Craioveanu
Located in Forest Hills, NY
Inspired by the mythological Greco-Roman origins, these works of art are dreamlike superimposed views of expressive and sometimes sensual figures. Like the immortal mythological heroes, my subjects remind us of the human ability to remain beautiful and noble despite de passing of time and damage it brings. This double portrait is a combination of a deconstructed, sectioned ancient marble head...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Bask, Original Contemporary Surrealist Figurative Mixed Media Portrait Painting
Located in Boston, MA
Bask, Original Contemporary Surrealist Figurative Mixed Media Portrait Painting 42" x 33" x 1.5" (HxWxD) Oil and Print on Canvas This mixed media portrait by artist Sarah Jacobs...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Color

Way of Serpent by Lucas Aoki
Located in New York, NY
Mixed Media Original Charcoal, powder paint, acrylic, resin, and paper
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Resin, Acrylic, Charcoal, Pen

Autumn rose. Rose woman.
Located in Aberdeen Dyce, GB
Autumn rose. Rose woman.
Category

1990s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

The Arrival of Madness by Lucas Aoki
Located in New York, NY
Mixed Media Original Charcoal, powder paint, acrylic, resin, and paper
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Resin, Charcoal, Pen, Acrylic

Cactus Landscape (Comanche Native American surrealist painting)
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Larry Hood (Native American, 1950-1995). Cactus Landscape, ca. 1975-80. Gouache on Arches rag paper, Sheet measures 23 x 30 inches. Image measures 22...
Category

1970s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Gouache, Rag Paper

Antique American School Surreal Signed Modernist Portrait Framed Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American abstract cubist composition "Terra Firma Theme 10" by Augustus Goertz (Born 1948) . Oil on canvas, circa 1958. Housed in a period gilt...
Category

1970s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Madonnas of Modernity
Located in Naples, FL
Characterized by his deeply honest means of expression and fascination with Orientalism, Surrealism, and social commentary, Moscow painter Stanislav Plutenko...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Giclée

Garden in Blue Sky
Located in Fairfield, CT
Represented by George Billis Gallery, NYC & LA -- The idea of meditation and contemplation play a major role in the paintings of artist Craig Carlisle. His paintings articulate inde...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Linen, Oil

Maiden and Spirit Wolf (Comanche Native American surrealist painting)
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Larry Hood (Native American, 1950-1995). Maiden and Spirit Wolf, ca. 1975-80. Gouache on Arches rag paper, Sheet measures 23 x 30 inches. Image measures 22 ...
Category

1970s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Gouache, Rag Paper

Birth, 1940s Modernist Surrealist Abstract Figural Watercolor Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Birth, semi-abstract, modernist, somewhat surrealist, vintage 1943 painting of a female figure giving birth by Colorado artist, Charles Ragland Bunnell, painted during the artist's B...
Category

1940s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

"Abstract Art #1" Painting, Oil on Birch, Bright Colors, Surrealism, Rainbows
Located in New York, NY
"Abstract Art #1" by Robin Tewes was featured in "Art4Equality x Life, Liberty & The Pursuit of Happiness" group exhibition at The Untitled Space from September 26 – November 3, 2020...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Birch, Oil

Surrealist paintings for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Surrealist paintings 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 paintings 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, green and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Elvic Steele, Rudolf Kosow, Isabel Rock, and Henry David Potwin. Frequently made by artists working with Paint, and Oil Paint 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 paintings, so small editions measuring 2 inches across are also available. Prices for paintings 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 $400,000, while the average work sells for $2,999.

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