It Might Be Hard To Take Your Eyes Off These Mesmerizing 30 Images Of Surrealism

Every person likes some form of art — whether it’s music, movies, or paintings. Then, within each form, there are plenty of styles to choose from. When it comes to painting styles, they range from realism to surrealism and beyond.

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Giant cat in a busy urban street scene, illustrating surrealism.

Surrealism-themed image showing a bitten apple reflecting as whole in a mirror with text “online isn’t real.”

A pile of colorful trash creates a surreal shadow of a couple, embodying surrealism.

Ever since the beginning of humanity, art has been a part of our culture that has evolved with us. From prehistoricVenus figurinesto digital art, art and humans have come a long way together.

Over this time, people have developed plenty of art styles and movements. ThisArtland magazinearticle mentions the most famous ones, like expressionism, cubism, andsurrealism.

Surrealistic picture of a wave made of plastic bags.

Hands with surreal fingers playing piano under sheet music, invoking surrealism.

Person photographing a surreal gallery on Instagram, with a woman painting and digital “like” icons overlayed.

Then, there’s paradoxical juxtaposition, which is the deliberate combination of unrelated elements to create new meaning. The third is psychological exploration through Freudian concepts — “surrealists dive deep into dreams, memories, and primal desires, transforming personal and collective unconscious material into symbolic imagery and metaphor.”

Lastly is liberation from rationality, which means that art aims to free the human mind from constraints, merging dream and reality into a new kind of experience — surreality. These principles are essentially what define surrealism and make it what it is.

Surrealism artwork of a human heart with a person standing in a cavernous opening.

A man dining alone with a projected image of another person on the wall, creating a surrealism effect.

Surreal art featuring a fox and a goose blended together against an orange background.

Salvador Daliis one of the most well-known and influential surrealist artists to have ever lived. He created both precise and unusual images that challenged the conventional reality and were thought-provoking.Just think of his famous paintingThe Persistence of Memory, one of the most recognizable works of the whole art movement. It encompasses both reality and fantasy — the distant golden cliffssymbolizethe coast of Catalonia, where Dalí was born.At the same time, the main attention is focused on the melting clocks in the middle of the painting, which is far from reality. The clockssignifythe fleeting nature of moments, the temporariness of time, and the elasticity of our experiences.Jay from “Surrealism Today” noted that these clocks are a perfect example of paradoxical juxtaposition, one of the fundamental principles that surrealism is based on, which we discussed earlier.Beside Dali, there are plenty of other famousartistswho have made amazing works of surrealism. For example, René Magritte, who paintedThe Son of Man, Leonora Carrington and herUlu’s Pants, and Max Ernst and hisThe Barbarians.There are also those who are not as widely known, but who (even today) create equally stunning works of art. Since it could be said thatsocial mediais kind of a digital art gallery, a lot of artists can be found online, onsiteslike Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, or more artist-focused platforms like Behance.

Just think of his famous paintingThe Persistence of Memory, one of the most recognizable works of the whole art movement. It encompasses both reality and fantasy — the distant golden cliffssymbolizethe coast of Catalonia, where Dalí was born.

At the same time, the main attention is focused on the melting clocks in the middle of the painting, which is far from reality. The clockssignifythe fleeting nature of moments, the temporariness of time, and the elasticity of our experiences.

Jay from “Surrealism Today” noted that these clocks are a perfect example of paradoxical juxtaposition, one of the fundamental principles that surrealism is based on, which we discussed earlier.

Beside Dali, there are plenty of other famousartistswho have made amazing works of surrealism. For example, René Magritte, who paintedThe Son of Man, Leonora Carrington and herUlu’s Pants, and Max Ernst and hisThe Barbarians.

There are also those who are not as widely known, but who (even today) create equally stunning works of art. Since it could be said thatsocial mediais kind of a digital art gallery, a lot of artists can be found online, onsiteslike Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, or more artist-focused platforms like Behance.

Surrealism artwork featuring a man in a hat holding a floral painting amidst traffic.

A hand holding scissors aligned with a bridge for a surreal effect, highlighting surrealism.

Surrealism-inspired scene with vibrant tulips flowing through a partially open door in a dimly lit room.

Also, be sure tp check out our interviewee Jay’s educational website “Surrealism Today” and itsYouTube channel!

Surrealism artwork of a snake coiled into a brain shape on a beige background.

Surrealism image of a person paddleboarding on an ocean edge.

A surreal scene with pasta flowing from a faucet into a plate, set against a purple background.

A surreal expression seen in a halved boiled egg, resembling a face.