Skip to main content

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.

39
to
294
1,418
696
513
253
1,065
896
290
512
339
375
378
663
Overall Height
to
Overall Width
to
45,414
37,129
19,268
7,877
3,468
3,048
2,989
1,256
1,180
1,176
1,151
447
224
1,045
648
478
350
286
154
131
127
126
118
116
88
86
83
76
68
60
43
42
42
1
691
1,574
1
5
17
39
31
61
110
88
63
84
81
36
32
26
2,169
1,512
1,000
934
552
Style: Surrealist
A Surreal Encaustic on Wood "I Remember My Castle"
Located in San Diego, CA
This is a one of a kind original encaustic mixed media artwork by Tiffany Bociek. Its dimensions are 12.8 x 14 x 2 in. A certificate of authenticity will follow delivery. Created ...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Encaustic, Oil

A Surreal Encaustic Landscape on Wood "Floating Above Golden Waters"
Located in San Diego, CA
This is a one of a kind original encaustic mixed media artwork by Tiffany Bociek. Its dimensions are 24 x 24 x 2 in. A certificate of authenticity will follow delivery. Created th...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Encaustic, Oil

A Surreal Encaustic on Wood "The Golden Hour 2"
Located in San Diego, CA
This is a one of a kind original encaustic mixed media artwork by Tiffany Bociek. Its dimensions are 9.5 x 9.5 x 1 in. A certificate of authenticity will follow delivery. Created ...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Encaustic

A Surreal Encaustic on Wood "The Golden Hour 1"
Located in San Diego, CA
This is a one of a kind original encaustic mixed media artwork by Tiffany Bociek. Its dimensions are 11.9 x 11.9 x 1 in. A certificate of authenticity will follow delivery. Create...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Encaustic

A Surreal Encaustic on Wood "Growth at a Snails Pace (Diptych)"
Located in San Diego, CA
This is a one of a kind original encaustic mixed media artwork by Tiffany Bociek. Its dimensions are 6.1 x 12 x 1.6 in. A certificate of authenticity will follow delivery. Created...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Encaustic, Oil

A Surreal Encaustic on Wood "On Un-Becoming"
Located in San Diego, CA
This is a one of a kind original encaustic mixed media artwork by Tiffany Bociek. Its dimensions are 12 x 6 x 1.6 in. A certificate of authenticity will follow delivery. Created ...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Encaustic, Mulberry Paper, Oil

Family Portrait, Large Surrealist Oil Painting Mother, Children, Neo Surrealism
Located in Surfside, FL
Hank Laventhol (1927–2001) was an American painter and master print maker. He worked in painting, graphics, sculpture and photography. Associated with ...
Category

1950s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

A Surreal Encaustic Mixed Media on Wood "Single Lens Reflex"
Located in San Diego, CA
This is a one of a kind original encaustic mixed media artwork by Tiffany Bociek. Its dimensions are 9 x 9 x 2 in. A certificate of authenticity will follow delivery. Created thro...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Encaustic

Pig in space
Located in London, GB
From glorious observations of the everyday to the surreal, Julie Fleming-Williams’ work is as eclectic as it is engaging. Julie has exhibited at the Royal Academy and her paintings h...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Board, Oil

A Surreal Encaustic on Wood "The Family Garden"
Located in San Diego, CA
This is a one of a kind original encaustic mixed media artwork by Tiffany Bociek. Its dimensions are 16 x 16 x 2 in. A certificate of authenticity will follow delivery. Created th...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil Pastel, Encaustic, Oil

An Surreal Encaustic on Wood "Shooting Skeets Like Shooting Stars
Located in San Diego, CA
This is a one of a kind original encaustic mixed media artwork by Tiffany Bociek. Its dimensions are 5.3 x 15 x 2 in. A certificate of authenticity will follow delivery. Created t...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Encaustic

Vesna – 14-03-22, Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
Shifting Gear Another Risque painting depicting my muse Julia Filament. Two oil paintings earlier I already did an Ukrainian theme but why not use it once again. After all, the Ru...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil

Good Things, Oil Painting
Located in San Francisco, CA

Artist Comments
Dwelling in a space of absolute simplicity, free from endless mental chatter, seems quite appealing. A tiny robot with a die is captivated by what exists before...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil

Holy Mackerel
Located in Napa, CA
Largely self-taught, Linda Ridd Herzog’s paintings boast unbelievably detailed animals and objects in fantastical, surreal scenes. Growing up in Utah, Herzog found herself so inspire...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Top Down Kind of Day
Located in Napa, CA
Largely self-taught, Linda Ridd Herzog’s paintings boast unbelievably detailed animals and objects in fantastical, surreal scenes. Growing up in Utah, Herzog found herself so inspire...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Eight of Pentacles, Oil Painting
Located in San Francisco, CA

Artist Comments
Inspired by the Eight of Pentacles tarot card, the vibrant green hues of the artwork symbolize growth, fertility, and abundance, including aspects related to mo...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil

Seven of Pentacles, Oil Painting
Located in San Francisco, CA

Artist Comments
As part of artist Rachel Srinivasan's Rodeo Tarot series, this interpretation of the Seven of Pentacles tarot card uses green to embody the themes of growth, fe...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil

Dreaming in the Backyard, Painting, Acrylic on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
Original acrylic painting of a surreal dream-like setting. Varnished, with sides of canvas painted neutral tone and wired. No framing necessary. :: Painting :: Surrealism :: Thi...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

cubist composition oil on board painting expressionism Ubeda
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Gustavo Úbeda (1930-1994) - cubist composition - Oil panel Oil measurements 50x42 cm. Frame measurements 58x50 cm. The painting by Gustavo Úbeda Romero (Herencia, 1930 – Sao Paulo, ...
Category

1970s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Landscape Original Oil On Canvas "Bucket With Dripping Red"
Located in New York, NY
Title: Bucket With Dripping Red Medium: Oil on canvas Size: 27 x 23 inches Frame: Framing options available! Year: 2000 Circa Artist: Unclear Provenance: Direct from the art...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Resist, Painting, Acrylic on Paper
Located in Yardley, PA
Original metaphorical surrealist arboreal work. Black and white with a little silver thrown in. 30x22 acrylic on heavy watercolor paper and permanently mounted on an aluminum panel...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

ShaoHua Nong Surrealist Original Oil On Canvas "Light And Shade"
Located in New York, NY
Title: Light And Shade Medium: Oil on canvas Size: 12 x 16 inches Frame: Framing options available! Condition: The painting appears to be in excellent condition. Note: This painting ...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Dancing Lovers
Located in Zofingen, AG
In this oil painting, I've blended abstract, figurative, and surreal elements to capture the fluid motion and raw emotion of an intimate dance. The intertwining forms, awash in shade...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil

Lovers, I’ll put a spell on you. (I was listening to Nina Simone)
Located in Zofingen, AG
Each of the Lovers comes from Ta's memory and imagination, "my feelings, my memories, some good, some not so good, but I try to focus on the good ones, a dance I remember, a hug afte...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil

EASY STREET, Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
A scene that played out every night on our street in Chicago. :: Painting :: Surrealism :: This piece comes with an official certificate of authenticity signed by the artist :: Ready...
Category

1990s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil

Egg Girls on a bike
Located in Zofingen, AG
I’ve written a book based on my Egg people and Characters such as the Conspirators. It is a fantasy novel that takes place in Egg Island and London. The story has a mix of good and bad characters, full of excitement, sadness, and intrigue. Egg Island is a mysterious place where you can find all sorts of creatures, such as dolphins, including a giant one as big as a ship and one even bigger one that sleeps at the bottom of the sea. Baboons who think they own the place, firebugs light up the village, giant turtles protect kids while swimming, Bright orange coconut crabs...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil

Qiang Li Still Life Original Oil On Canvas "Comedy 3"
Located in New York, NY
Title: Comedy 3 Medium: Oil on canvas Size: 27 x 23 inches Frame: Framing options available! Year: 2000 Circa Artist: Qiang Li Signature: Unsigned Signature Location: N/A ...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Ferjo - Surrealist Interior - Signed Oil on Canvas
By Ferjo
Located in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CH
FERJO Intérieur surréaliste Signed Oil on Canvas 51 x 61 cm Ferjo, Brazilian (1946 - ) Ferjo Technical achievements in art not only in painting...
Category

1990s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil

Meet Me @ Dawn
Located in Belfast, GB
Meet Me @ Dawn, 2019 Signed and dated on reverse Oil on Canvas 35 3/8 x 23 5/8 in 90 x 60 cm "The quirky manner in which Johnston pulls and twists narratives, highlighted by the realistic nature of his work, sheds light on the camouflaged absurdities hiding in plain sight. Johnston invites the viewer to dig through the layers of mundane normality with the shovel of imagination to unearth new perspectives." - Saatchi Art (2023) Award winning artist Stephen Johnston...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil

Jin Liu Surrealist Original Oil Painting "Production Plan-2"
Located in New York, NY
Title: Production Plan-2 Medium: Oil on canvas Size: 12 x 12 inches Frame: Framing options available! Condition: The painting appears to be in excellent condition. Note: This paintin...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Goddess the Violinist and Swan
Located in Zofingen, AG
As the artist, I've poured my soul into this canvas, blending oils to evoke a sense of enigmatic allure and surreal wonder. With each stroke, I've strived to weave a narrative that t...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil

French Contemporary Art By Helen Uter - Le Petit Patissier
Located in Paris, IDF
Oil on canvas, Helen Uter is an established Franco-American painter born in 1955 who lives and works in Donnery, near Orléans, France. Heavily influenced by Edward Hopper, she crea...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

French Contemporary Art By Helen Uter - Le Blouson
Located in Paris, IDF
Oil on canvas, Helen Uter is an established Franco-American painter born in 1955 who lives and works in Donnery, near Orléans, France. Heavily influenced by Edward Hopper, she crea...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

French Contemporary Art By Helen Uter - La Bourasque
Located in Paris, IDF
Oil on canvas, Helen Uter is an established Franco-American painter born in 1955 who lives and works in Donnery, near Orléans, France. Heavily influenced by Edward Hopper, she crea...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

French Contemporary Art By Helen Uter - L’Escalier
Located in Paris, IDF
Oil on canvas, Helen Uter is an established Franco-American painter born in 1955 who lives and works in Donnery, near Orléans, France. Heavily influenced by Edward Hopper, she crea...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Conspirators you saying it's me?
Located in Zofingen, AG
Ta's collection of conspirators is full of mischief and secrecy. Each character is always up to something naughty or scheming a dodgy deal, "I want a desperado feel to it, moody as i...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil

Surrealist Large Painting Royal College of Art LGBTQ+ Artist Cat Blue Flowers
Located in Norfolk, GB
Isabel Rock is a creator of contemporary fairy tales. A graduate of the Royal College of Art in London, her work is an explosion of strange occurrences while a surreal narrative take...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Paint, Mixed Media, Acrylic, Archival Paper, Pen

Beyond Tranquility-original still life-seascape oil painting-contemporary Art
Located in London, Chelsea
"Beyond Tranquility" by Luis Fuentes beckons admirers into a realm where surrealism and realism converge seamlessly, creating an original still life interior-seascape painting that i...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Latvian Israeli Surreal Gouache Illustration Art Painting Tel Aviv
Located in Surfside, FL
Maris Bishofs was born in 1939 in Rujiena, Latvia. In 1965 he became the first artist to graduate from the Latvian Art Academy with an interior design diploma. In 1972 he emigrated t...
Category

1970s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Gouache

Surrealist Watercolour and Mixed Media, "Ne Nastupit bui!" (Wouldn't Come!).
Located in Cotignac, FR
Late 20th century mixed media surrealist painting by Yuri Ilyich Kononenko. Titled 'Ne Nastupit Bui!' (Wouldn't Come!). Signed with artists symbol bottom left. Fully signed, dated an...
Category

Late 20th Century Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Charcoal, Paper, Crayon, Watercolor, Pencil

Genovart. Little Red original surrealist acrilic painting
Located in CORAL GABLES - MIAMI, FL
Paisaje original surrealist acrilic painting GENOVART LLOPIS, Jaume (Barcelona, 1941-1994). Basically self - taught painter, was released in 1972. Grandson of typesetter and booksel...
Category

1970s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Wood, Acrylic

Genovart Gray Background Yellow original surrealist acrylic painting
Located in CORAL GABLES - MIAMI, FL
Luces original surrealist acrylic painting. GENOVART LLOPIS, Jaume (Barcelona, 1941-1994). Basically self - taught painter, was released in 1972. Grandson of typesetter and booksell...
Category

1970s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

"Forest Elf" textured mixed technique, 2022
Located in Bogotá, Bogotá
Figurative Magical oil Painting, Figurative Painting 34" x 65" inch by Ion Xiua. Mixed technique. A magical moment, in which we recognize that we are one with the animals. The animal...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Cotton Canvas

Surrealist Landscape with Feathered Object in Acrylic, Paper, and Gold Leaf
Located in Soquel, CA
Surrealist Landscape with Feathered Object in Acrylic, Paper, and Gold Leaf Vibrant and colorful surrealist landscape by Oregon artist Hugh Webb (American, b. 1940). The main subject of this piece is a large Y-shaped object that appears to be covered in feathers created out of small ovals of paper. The landscape is comprised of a striped ground, with wispy blue tree-like object emerging from holes in the ground. Squares of pastel blue, teal, and pink float throughout the scene. The background is made of layers of distressed gold leaf. Unsigned, but was acquired from a collection of the artist's work. Board size: 24"H x 32"W Hugh Webb (American, b. 1940) earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Utah and a Master of Fine Arts degree (1969) from the University of Oregon. Webb studied with Demetrios Jameson, Mark Sponenburgh, Gordon Gilkey, and John Rock...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Gold Leaf

Vintage Signed Contemporary Surreal Apple Strength Portrait Rare Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Oil on canvas. Image size, 24H x 30L. Signed verso.
Category

1990s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

High Drama Adventure Scene - Italian Illustrator Mid-Century Jules Verne
Located in Miami, FL
Original illustration was done by Renna for the novel "Journey to the Center of the Earth" by Jules Verne, published in 1963. What makes this work special is how brilliantly the subj...
Category

1960s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Illustration Board, Tempera

1970 Mod Surrealist Painting Collage David Hare Abstract Landscape Summer Land
Located in Surfside, FL
David Hare Summer Land, 1970 Acrylic or oil paint and collage on board Dimensions: 26 X 36 inches. Framed measuring 29 x 38 inches. Hand signed, dated and titled on tape to verso 'Summer Land 1970 Hare'. Provenance: Hamilton Gallery of Contemporary Art, New York David Hare (1917 – 1992) was an American artist, associated with the Surrealist movement. He is primarily known for his sculpture, though he also worked extensively in photography and oil painting. The VVV Surrealism Magazine was first published and edited by Hare in 1942. Born March 10, 1917 in New York City, New York to father Meredith Hare, a lawyer and mother Elizabeth Sage Goodwin, an art collector. In the 1920s the family moved first to Santa Fe, New Mexico and later to Colorado Springs, Colorado, in hope that the fresh air would help heal Meredith Hare's tuberculosis. His mother founded the Fountain Valley School, where David attended high school. After high school Hare married and moved to Roxbury, Connecticut where he worked as a color photographer. He attended Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson from 1936 to 1937, studying biology and chemistry. In the late 1930s, with no previous artistic training, he began to experiment with color photography. Using his previous education in chemistry Hare developed an automatist technique called "heatage" in which he heated the unfixed negative from an 8 by 10-inch plate, causing the image to ripple and distort. Hare's Surrealist experiments in photography were only one of his many projects. In 1938 he met Susanna Winslow Wilson and the couple soon married. Both David and Susanna pursued their interests in Surrealism and regularly attended Surrealist gatherings in New York Larre French restaurant on 56th street and at Breton's Greenwich Village apartment. In 1940 he received a commission from the American Museum of Natural History to document the Pueblo Indians of the American Southwest, for which he eventually produced 20 prints developed using Eastman Kodak's then-new dye transfer process (a time-consuming and complicated technique). In the same year, he also opened his own commercial photography studio in New York City and exhibited his photographs in a solo show at the Julien Levy Gallery. In the next few years, through his cousin the painter Kay Sage, he came into contact with a number of Surrealist artists who had fled their native Europe because of World War II. Hare became closely involved with the émigré Surrealist movement and collaborated closely with them on projects such as the Surrealist journal VVV, which he co founded and edited from 1941 to 1944 with André Breton, Max Ernst, and Marcel Duchamp. With numerous illustrations by Breton, Leonora Carrington, Marc Chagall, Roberto Matta, Giorgio de Chirico, MarcelDuchamp, Max Ernst, Andre Masson, Joan Miro, Enrico Donati, Dorothea Tanning, and others. Published in only four issues between 1942-44, VVV was an experimental New York-based magazine devoted to the dissemination of Surrealism. Edited by David Hare, the short-lived magazine featured contributions from some of the leading avant-garde artists of the period. David and Susanna divorce in 1945 and Breton’s wife Jacqueline Lamba...
Category

1970s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Acrylic, Board

Untitled
Located in Hollywood, FL
Artist: Matija Bobicic Title: Untitled Size: 23 x 29 Inches (Framed: 24.5 x 30.5 inches) Medium: Acrylic on Canvas Edition: Original Year: 2018 Not...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Vintage Monumental Museum Size Modernist Surreal Interior Scene Signed Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist surreal interior scene watercolor painting. Framed. Signed. Amazing detail here!!
Category

1950s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

French Mod Surrealist Commedia dell'arte Circus Scene Oil Painting J.P. Serrier
Located in Surfside, FL
Jean Pierre Serrier (French, 1934-1989) Oil on canvas painting depicting four figures Hand signed lower right. Measures (frame) 26.5" x 30" wide, and (sight) 18.25." x 22.25" wide. Jean Pierre Serrier (1934 – 1989) was a French painter known for surrealism and absurdist art. Jean-Pierre Serrier was born in Montparnasse, Paris and attended the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. the son of Louis and Solange Serrier. His father fought in World War II and became a prisoner of war. In 1940, as a six-year-old, he and his mother fled Paris for Corrèze in southwest France. Childhood memories of close escapes from German bombardments would later influence his absurdist philosophy of life. Passionate about drawing, in 1951 he applied and was admitted to the École nationale supérieure des arts appliqués et des métiers d'art in Paris. He shared an attic apartment in the 16th arrondissement with fellow student Jean-Baptiste Valadié. For income, he decorated shop windows. A trip to Spain provided motifs for early works. His student work might be characterized as art naïf (Naive art). While still a student, he sold a ceramic artwork to the poet and publisher Pierre Seghers, who would later commission drawings from him. He frequented jazz clubs in Saint-Germain des Près, and while listening to Sidney Bechet at the Vieux Colombier, he met his wife, Yvette.One of the last French Surrealist and follower of Nietzsche. His art conveyed the message to all of mankind that we are only human. The other Surrealist to center his art in philosophy was Rene Magritte whose paintings reflect his understanding of Sigmund Freud. He had his first exhibition in 1955, before being sent to Algeria to complete his military service. After graduating in 1955, he was drafted for military service, spent time in Germany and Morocco, and was sent to the front lines of the Algerian War. In 1959 he exhibited works at two Parisian galleries and at Juan-les-Pins on the Côte d'Azur. From 1961, he exhibited annually at the Salon des Artistes Français. In 1962, the City of Paris purchased his painting Un dimanche In 1961, Serrier made his first visit to the United States to exhibit at a New York gallery. In 1975 and 1979, he had successful exhibitions in New Orleans, and his work was included in art and news magazines, including Time and Newsweek. Beginning in the 1950s, his works included stylized portraits similar in some ways to the "big eyes" art of Margaret Keane, though it is uncertain that either artist influenced the other. Keane painted children, and so did Serrier, sometimes from life, but Serrier’s models are usually somewhat older, though uniformly slender and with androgynous features. A gallery owner introduced Serrier to American collectors Edgar Garbisch and his wife, Bernice Chrysler (daughter of Chrysler founder Walter P. Chrysler), who had a particular interest in naïve art; they commissioned a series of portraits from Serrier. At the same time, he met Reine Ausset in Paris, who in 1961 invited him to New York to take part in an exhibition at Galerie Norval on 57th Street. The show also included work by Moïse Kisling, and the exhibition program explicitly linked the two artists, saying that Serrier, who considered Moise Kisling "the Master," had found his own technique, but "the same vision joins the grand Kisling to the young Serrier: plenitude of shapes, sureness of palette, precision in outlines." In the 1960s he began painting slender, young, androgynous figures in groups, set in sparse landscapes with suggestions of the surreal and sometimes wearing costumes of the Commedia dell'arte. In some of these paintings the eyes of the figures are completely black, a motif that would continue in his later work. In 1965, he exhibited at Forest and Reed Gallery in London. Also in 1965, he discovered the small town of Martel, and with his old roommate Jean-Baptiste Valadié purchased a house that they opened as the gallery La Licorne (The Unicorn) in 1967. Responding to the political upheavals of May 1968 in France, and following the advice of Geneva gallery owner Roger Ferrero, Serrier's work became increasingly complex, idiosyncratic, and surreal. Imagery included the Tower of Babel, bodies suspended in space, and crowds of people all dressed alike, with identical features and entirely black eyes. Mannequins, playing cards, nudes, and levitating orbs also figured in the work. In a nod to Magritte, his men sometimes wear bowler hats. Another influence may have been the works of the Franco-Belgian surrealist Gaston Bogaert (1918-2008). Serrier's first major exhibit of these works, in Geneva in 1971, was titled Le Réalisme Fantastique. (Magic Realism) In 1972, he was made a member of the Société du Salon d'Automne, under whose auspices he was invited by the Polish government to exhibit in Warsaw in 1973, as part of a cultural exchange across the Iron Curtain. In 1976, he served on the jury of the Salon d'Automne. In 1975, New Orleans gallery owner Kurt E. Schon brought his work to several cities in the United States. A copiously illustrated monograph in English, Surrealism and the Absurd: Jean Pierre Serrier, was published in 1977. Author Thomas M. Bayer wrote: Serrier's world is one where—to use Friedrich Nietzche's term—the "human herd animal" is being confronted with the overwhelming task of coping with the world, his solitude, and at times, his resignation in the face of its monstrous size and duration. It is a world where the characterless, "blind" man faces the institutions, rules and symbols that made him into the being he now is…But Serrier does not lose himself in this world he portrays. He never forgets the old French tradition, the "black" humor, à la Molière. This classical humor at times is more felt than seen, in a manner that can be terribly funny, because it is horrifying, laughable, poignant and always true. Serrier told a friend, "In each of my paintings there's a message of hope amid the crowd of stereotypical figures. It could be an escaping dirigible, or a nymphet who flees like a deer under the red and blue trees of paradise...
Category

Mid-20th Century Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

THOUGHTS_
Located in Aberdeen Dyce, GB
The series "Spirituality" has reached completion. However, O. Khrapachov's search did not reach a dead end. His theory of the development of the world testifies to the incompleteness...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Large Scale Surrealist Oil on Canvas, 'Noah's Ark and the Animals'.
Located in Cotignac, FR
Very large scale late 20th century oil on canvas of Noah's Ark and the Animals by British artist Derek Carruthers. Signed to the bottom right. A magical, highly colourful and energe...
Category

Late 20th Century Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Dos Cuba Libres
Located in Cazadero, CA
Dos Cuba Libres Never been here before? The busy rhythm, around every corner another bay, and resting will not come soon but still an elegant chaos
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Clay, Canvas, Charcoal, Oil

Large Scale Surrealist Oil on Canvas, 'At the Watering Hole'.
Located in Cotignac, FR
Large late 20th century oil on canvas of animals at the watering hole by British artist Derek Carruthers. Signed to the bottom right. A magical, highly colourful and energetic paint...
Category

Late 20th Century Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Genovart 8 Grey Background Yellow original surrealist acrylic painting
Located in CORAL GABLES - MIAMI, FL
Luces original surrealist acrylic painting. GENOVART LLOPIS, Jaume (Barcelona, 1941-1994). Basically self - taught painter, was released in 1972. Grandson of typesetter and booksell...
Category

1970s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Shape of my heart, Painting, Acrylic on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
Original , surrealism, ready to hang :: Painting :: Surrealism :: This piece comes with an official certificate of authenticity signed by the artist :: Ready to Hang: Yes :: Signed: ...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Surrealist Large Painting Royal College of Art LGBTQ+ Female Pink Woods
Located in Norfolk, GB
Isabel Rock is a creator of contemporary fairy tales. A graduate of the Royal College of Art in London, her work is an explosion of strange occurrences while a surreal narrative take...
Category

2010s Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Paint, Mixed Media, Acrylic, Archival Paper, Pen

I Burnt My Hand on a Hot Cake
Located in Cazadero, CA
I Burnt My hand On a Hot Cake Morning Light through the aging blinds of indecision, together, moving, catching up to the sounds of the opening day.
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings

Materials

Clay, 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.

Recently Viewed

View All