A century after the movement emerged, surrealist designs are resurfacing in an array of sophisticated ways for today’s interiors.

Though seemingly elusive, surrealist designs have a clear point of view. The movement emerged in 1924 when poet André Breton published the Manifesto of Surrealism in the aftermath of World War I, writing in defiance of what he perceived as the oppressive rationalism of modern society. “Surrealism was more a way of thinking than an artistic or literary style,” says Rosalind McKever, a curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. “It spread internationally with great speed, influencing multiple fields and enduring much longer than other early-20th-century art movements.”

Jess and Jonathan Nahon of Sugarhouse commissioned artist Michael Chandler to hand-paint a fantastical mural for the tile facade of the Cult Gaia flagship in MiamiKris Tamburello