There are two equally important artists, I think. Certainly the most prolific and influential was Picasso, who created Cubism and then Abstract Art. His most famous painting is "Guernica", which depicts the devastating aerial bombardment of this small town during the Spanish Civil War. The dislocated bull's head, for example, represents the blowing apart of animals. It's a life altering experience to go to a good exhibition of his art.
Salvador Dali is the other, the most noted Surrealist painter. One of his famous paintings features the memorable melting clock. Surrealism was very stimulated by dream imagery and visions of the impossible. Salvador Dali also had a wicked sense of humor. In a film he produced living cat's heads pop out of a piano. He was invited to lecture at a university in the '60's (where escapes me). He showed up wearing a scuba diving outfit and lectured through the face mask the whole time.
