Surrealist Works Collection

Explore our collection inspired by surrealist painting

As a movement, surrealism developed in the aftermath of the First World War, driven by visionary artists such as André Breton, Paul Eluard or Robert Desnos. Covering several artistic disciplines ranging from painting to writing, encompassing photography, surrealism aims to unlock the unconscious and allow it to express itself artistically.
 

Salvador Dali, father of surrealist painting

Influenced by the poet André Breton, surrealism grew out of Dadaism, the first artistic movement to explore "the irrationality of the human experience". As its founder indicated, the surrealist movement "aims quite simply at the total recovery of our psychic force". So the surrealist artist is working to unlock his unconscious. This mantra also applies to painting, a discipline in which Salvador Dali remains the undisputed master. Classically trained at the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts, he demonstrated extraordinary skill very early on. Combined with his abundant imagination, this technique and this sense of detail was to produce major works, which were to transform the world of painting. His melting clocks in The Persistence of Memory, a surrealist work par excellence, dating from 1931, have endured and are known the world over. Dali remains, without question, the painter who gave surrealism its reputation and credentials.
 

Our "surrealist painting" selection

The surrealist painter is therefore working to unlock the unconscious and offers imaginary and dreamlike visions. We have then, selected several paintings evoking both Dali's dream and work. Our “surrealism” collection presents models of fairy tale animals, juxtapositions of far-fetched geometric shapes or elements in unusual colours. Sometimes reminiscent of Dali's distorted elephants or Magritte's legendary apple, our “surrealist painting” collection includes models of all sizes. The smallest come in the form of 13cm squares, while the largest measures 120 by 40cm.