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
Artist: Rudolf Kosow
United and Fate Challenge I
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
Mental closeness connects two dissimilar beings, despite great differences.
keywords; surrealism, portrait, oil painting, earth tones, figurative painting, strangeness, contemporary...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Dreamer (monkey gorilla iceberg arctic surrealist oil painting light blue)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
Superbe original painting on canvas depicting a gorilla in a contemplative state on top of an iceberg while a young woman next to him plays the guitar.
keywords; guitar playing woma...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Boxing Glove (red boxing glove surréaliste brown coat oil painting boxer)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
Superbe bold original painting on canvas depicting the vivid portrait of a red boxing glove held by an anonymous figure in a coat.
keywords; boxing glove...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Busy (vintage ladies woman lingerie 3D oil painting paper branches surrealist)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
Busy is a tridimensional original painting on paper on branches depicting tailor ladies working taking body measurements along a path in a dark night.
keywords; vintage tailor ladi...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Driftwood, Oil, Laid Paper
Hermits (blue butterfly Woman vintage lingerie surrealist oil painting sculpture
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
Hermits is a tridimensional original painting on paper on branches depicting a woman next to a giant butterfly along a path in a dark night.
keywords; butterfly, woman, lingerie, am...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Driftwood, Laid Paper
One more (vintage golfer yellow shirt wood painting sculpture tridimensional)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
One More is a tridimensional original painting on paper on branches depicting a golfer playing on a field on a sunny day.
keywords; golfer, yellow shirt,...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Driftwood, Oil, Laid Paper
Holding Leather Bag (Brown leather bag surréaliste oil painting vintage dark)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
Superbe bold original painting on canvas depicting the vivid portrait of a red boxing glove held by an anonymous figure in a coat.
keywords; boxing glove, red glove, Brown coat, ame...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Soulmate (white Swan Woman bather red green vintage surrealist oil painting)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
Soulmate is a superbe original painting on canvas depicting a woman bather next to a giant white Swan on a green lawn against an intense red sky.
keywords; white Swan, woman bather,...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Leaf and couple (yellow oil painting vintage black and white Picture couple)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
LEAF AND COUPLE is a superbe and vivid original painting on canvas depicting a still life of a fall leaf next to a vintage black and white photograph of a couple in a tender brace.
...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Lovers and autumn leaf (oil painting vintage black and white Picture couple)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
LOVERS AND AUTUMN LEAVES is a superbe original painting on canvas depicting a still life of a fall leaves next to a vintage black and white photograph of a couple in a loving embrace...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Not Enough (dessert donut bite woman fur coat surréaliste brown oil painting )
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
Superbe original painting on canvas depicting the portrait of a partially eaten donut in mid-air and a woman from a different sera in a fur coat observing the strange phenomena.
keywords; fut coat...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Banana (yellow banana blue sky vintage hat man surrealist oil painting grey)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
Superbe original painting on canvas depicting an oversize banana hanging like an enigma in a clear bue sky above a perplexed magician.
keywords; americana, surrealism, yellow banana...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Flow (sleep monkey chimpanzee iceberg arctic surrealist oil painting light blue)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
Superbe original painting on canvas depicting a sleeping giant chimpanzee atop a drifting iceberg.
keywords; chimpanzé, americana, surrealism, monkey, sleeping giant, iceberg, vin...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Not so bad (cowboy hat western country vintage hat man oil painting light brown)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
Superbe monochrome original oil painting on canvas depicting a cowboy pondering over his latest shot.
keywords; cowboy, americana, surrealism, light brown, vintage, oil painting, ma...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Instantly (woman tennis player vintage surrealist oil painting monochrome grey)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
Superbe original painting on canvas depicting a vintage scene of a young woman tennis player in action.
The actual color of this piece is a monochrome of...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Tricky (ballerina porcelain trinket vintage hat men surrealist oil painting grey
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
Superbe original painting on canvas depicting a young ballerina performing a trick while onlookers contemplate perplexed to her prowess.
keywords; americana, surrealism, ballerina, ...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Marvellous (ballerina red hair porcelain vintage hat men surrealist oil painting
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
Superbe original painting on canvas depicting a young ballerina performing a trick while onlookers contemplate perplexed to her prowess.
keywords; americana, surrealism, ballerina, ...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
It's just like that (fly blue sky vintage men americana surrealist oil painting)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
Superbe original painting on canvas depicting an oversized fly as an enigma in a clear bue sky above a perplexed group of men.
keywords; americana, surrealism, fly, vintage, oil painting, men figurative painting...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Reunited (monkeys orangutans iceberg arctic surrealist oil painting light blue)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
Superbe original painting on canvas depicting a pair of orangutans cuddling on top of a small iceberg.
keywords; americana, surrealism, monkey, iceberg, vintage, oil painting, anima...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Moody and Gloomy
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
keywords; surrealism, humour, uncanny, animals, rabbit, terra cota, fire red, earth tones, indian red, oil painting, figurative painting, strangeness, con...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Mr. L (oil painting monochrome vintage old man beard portrait nostalgia flower)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
keywords; surrealism, portrait, oil painting, earth tones, figurative painting, strangeness, contemporary surrealistic, unsettling, contemporary figurative painting, dreams, symbolic...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Couple (oil painting surrealist red hair woman man portrait figurative flesh
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
The significant size difference plays with the perception of the viewer, perhaps confused, one asks
oneself the question, if what is shown much larger, is also much more important .....
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Sly (hunt dog ear surrealism scale animal men best friend nostalgia vintage art)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
keywords; surrealism, hunting dog, humour, uncanny, animals, prussian blue, emerald green, earth tones, oil painting, figurative painting, strangeness, contemporary surrealistic, uns...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Miracle (yellow banana couple surrealist oil painting comical vintage figurative
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
In "Case", banal, everyday things meet in this painting to create an unusual, strange, absurd and ironical situation derived by the disproportional scale size of things.
keywords;...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Scrappy (car wreck girl yellow dress toy surrealism scale nostalgia vintage)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
keywords; surrealism, humour, uncanny, yellow dress, little girl, car wreck, car incident, earth tones, oil painting, figurative painting, strangeness, conte...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Unexplicable (teal art apricot lady brown vintage earth tone nostalgia fur coat
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
keywords; surrealism, fruit, ripe fruit, humour, apricot, fur coat lady, uncanny, lady, vintage, earth tones, oil painting, figurative painting, str...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Vagabond (labrador retriever pet dog surrealism animal neutral tones)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
Please note, the whites areas in the painting are trully white as opposed to bluey as shown in the pictures.
Painting is signed at the front.
COA provided
keywords; surrealism, humo...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Dreamers (yellow banana vintage car surrealist oil painting grey monochrome)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
Two photographic motifs, which can by no means fit together in real life, result in a coherent and at the same time completely absurd image on a painting level. It may symbolize wishful thinking which can never be realized in reality.
keywords; americana, surrealism, yellow banana, vintage, oil painting, men figurative painting...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Gloomy (pet english bulldog dog surrealism animal men neutral tones)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
Please note, the whites areas in the painting are trully white as opposed to bluey as shown in the pictures.
Painting is signed at the front.
COA provided
keywords; surrealism, humo...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Best Piece (red popsicle indigo blue grey lady vintage earth tone nostalgia)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
keywords; surrealism, red popsicle, humour, uncanny, lady, vintage, earth tones, oil painting, figurative painting, strangeness, contemporary surrealistic, unsettling, contemporary f...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Mind Blowing (vintage car surrealist oil painting grey monochrome dessert cake)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
Two photographic motifs, which can by no means fit together in real life, result in a coherent and at the same time completely absurd image on the painting level. Something that has happened, you can see things clearly in front of you and still do not understand how often in real life what it all means.
keywords; americana, surrealism, rasberry cake, vintage, oil painting, men figurative painting...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Stranger (black kitten woman nostalgia vintage photograph enigma earth tones)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
We love Rudolf's latest series. The artist says about “Stranger”; "Normally one would hardly take notes of an inconspicuous, black kitten in everyday life...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Escapee (porcelain bambi vintage art lady brown earth tones surrealist painting)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
In "Escapee", a huge ceramic figure of a bambi runs away from its owner in the middle of a strange and threatening landscape. This painting depicts a completely absurd situation that...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Canvas
Couple (oil painting flesh tones vintage couple sleeping beauty nostalgia)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
The significant size difference plays with the perception of the viewer, perhaps confused, one asks
oneself the question, if what is shown much larger, is also much more important .....
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Together I (purple surrealism eyes black animal head comical mystery figurative
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
We love Rudolf's latest series and particularly this exquisitely comical and enigmatic painting. The artist says "Banal, everyday things meet in the middle of nowhere and present the...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Ice case (ice cream surrealist oil painting grey monochrome vintage crime)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
A group of men come across something inexplicable, something that looks amazingly like a scoop of ice cream with a chocolate topping, in the middle of the forest and desperately try ...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Missing Pieces (oil painting surrealist birthday cake dessert couple cherry red)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
At first glance, simple, banal things are visible but something is clearly strange here, what is going
on here? And where did a piece of cake disappear?
keywords; surrealism, food, ...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Rebel (pitbull dog ear surrealism scale animal armed men nostalgia vintage art)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
keywords; surrealism, pitbull, humour, uncanny, animals, purple, earth tones, oil painting, figurative painting, strangeness, contemporary surrealistic, unsettling, contemporary figu...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Dizzy (lady woman legs high heels black and white flesh tones monochrome city)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
In "Dizzy“, something inexplicable has happened in the middle of a sleepy city; a traffic accident where the fire brigade is trying to rectify and underst...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Fate Challenge I (lady climber art forbidden apple snake brown brown earth tones
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
In "Fate challenge I“ a mountaineer is eagerly climbing a steep rocky promontory, hoping to get the sweetest fruit, an apple, and take a bite out of it. Although, she is completely c...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Together (oil painting vintage couple figurative nostalgia sleeping beauty flesh
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
Mental closeness connects two dissimilar beings, despite great differences.
keywords; surrealism, portrait, oil painting, earth tones, figurative painting, strangeness, contemporary...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Find (Gulliver's Travels animal claws vintage oil painting woman man couple fur)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
In "Find", Rudolf expresses the idea that; similarly to the satirical novel "Gulliver's Travels", humans are confronted with an inexplicable encounter and do not know how to react to...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Magic (animal figurative oil painting surrealist deer man reindeer scenery)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
A magical encounter between man and animal, in this case, a deer, produces energy in the form of a strong light. It is quite puzzling how it comes to this meeting, you can decide for...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Fate Challenge I (lady climber wildcat brown earth tones yellow ochre mauve
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
In "Fate challenge II“ a mountaineer is eagerly climbing a steep rock ledge because she has seen something from a distance that she could not explain and is planning to find out. Alt...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
The Good the Bad and Ugly (oil painting monochrome man cowboy western hat)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
keywords; surrealism, portrait, oil painting, earth tones, figurative painting, strangeness, contemporary surrealistic, unsettling, contemporary figurative painting, dreams, symbolic...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Repose (sleeping beauty woman hair portrait figurative oil painting flesh tones
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
In this painting, the painter tries to portray the young sleeping, lying and oversized figure of a woman as part of the landscape. Who likes to be this person and what is she doing i...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
The brooch (oil painting sleeping beauty surrealism man tennis figurative hair)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
A scene in the middle of nowhere: a young man with a tennis racket unexpectedly sees a huge
figure of a young lady who apparently sleeps or simply dreams in front of him.
keywords; ...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Phenomenon (surrealism oil painting rooster chicken head farm animal red)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
Absurd scenery in the middle of nowhere: head of a chicken, seemingly alive ... and an elderly man
... do they belong together, are they probably old...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Phenomenon II (oil painting surrealist cat paws men vintage clothing nostalgia)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
People encounter a domestic animal that is commonplace and familiar, but the disproportionate scale creates fascination, fright and this perspective renders the human speechless. Similar to the satirical novel "Gulliver's Travels", people are confronted with an inexplicable encounter and do not know how to react to it. Is the situation perplexing because a dog is huge, just taking a nap and does not notice the people around it, or are humans too tiny and do not recognize their "absurd" existence?
keywords; surrealism, animals, cat, oil painting, earth tones, figurative painting, strangeness, contemporary surrealistic, unsettling, contemporary figurative painting, dreams, symbolic composition, cat paw
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Investigation (bat fox bat oil painting surrealism figurative animal vintage)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
In "Investigation I", banal, everyday things meet in this painting to create an unusual, strange, absurd and ironical situation derived by the disproportional scale size of things.
...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Couple (oil painting woman portrait man flesh tones sleeping beauty vintage)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
"The significant size difference plays with the perception of the viewer, perhaps confused, one asks
oneself the question, if what is shown much larger, is also much more important ....
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Stranger (dog soldier cop surrealist crime scene oil painting yellow tape)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
Absurd scenery in the middle of nowhere: a case for the special forces, inexplicable and uncanny
has emerged and must therefore be "arrested"...
key...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Capture (girl soldier surrealist oil painting sleeping child portrait figurative
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
Trapped, imprisoned and guarded - are there reasons to do so? Maybe "She" is dangerous, or
possibly quite harmless, she is dreaming and serene.
keywords; surrealism, portrait, oil p...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Phenomenon (cat eyes head mystery men vintage nostalgia figurative scene)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
Absurd scenery in the middle of nowhere: a section of a giant cat's head suddenly appears out of
nowhere, an event that lets seemingly random passing...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Discord (couple oil painting suitcase vintage nostalgia sleeping beauty skin)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
In this painting, the painter tries to portray the young sleeping, lying and oversized figure of a woman as part of the landscape. Who likes to be this person and what is she doing i...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
On Road
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
As in the painting entitled "Arrived", the thematic content revolves around the eternal search of man for the goal, for the light in his life. Often alone on the road, encounters gi...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Last Leaves (young girl yellow shirt fall leave portrait figurative oil painting
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
The idea for this painting is based on the idea of the transience and rebirth of things. The already fallen tree leaves symbolize the decomposition of matter and at the same time the...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, 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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