Midday Sorrow

1932

Angel Planells
Spanish, 1901–1989

The Catalan artist Àngel Planells began training in 1917 to become an engraver, but after two and a half years, he turned his attention to painting. In 1936 Planells exhibited three paintings, including Midday Sorrow, in the first International Surrealist Exhibition at the New Burlington Galleries in London. At the time, this was the foremost major exhibition to survey the history of Surrealism. The first owner of this painting was Roland Penrose, one of the primary organizers of the exhibition. An artist and poet, Penrose was married to the photographer Lee Miller, who was the subject of many Surrealist works, and was a close friend of many Surrealist artists.

Status: On View, Gallery 396
Department: Modern Art

Artist: Angel Planells
Title: Midday Sorrow
Place: Spain (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1932
Medium: Oil on canvas
Inscriptions: Signed, l.r.: "Angel Planells"
Dimensions: 101 × 95 cm (39 3/4 × 37 3/8 in.)
Credit Line: Block, Serlin and Saidenberg, and Twentieth-Century Purchase funds; through prior bequest of Clara S. Binswanger; through prior acquisitions of Chester Dale, Mr. and Mrs. Carter H. Harrison, Ella M. Schapper Memorial Fund, Joseph Winterbotham, and Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection
Reference Number: 1993.259

Herbert Read, ed., Surrealism (Harcourt, Brace and Co., New York: 1936), p. 16, pl. 83.Galeria Rene Metras, Angel Planells (Barcelona, 1975), n.p. (ill.), fig. 83.
Lucia Garcia de Carpi, La Pintura Surrealista Espãnola: 1924–1936 (Editions ISTMO, Madrid: 1986), p. 86 (ill.), cat. 42 (ill.), as Migda Penós.
Christie’s London, The Art of the Surreal Evening Sale (February 3, 2003), in “1936 International Exhibition of Surrealism New Burlington Galleries London,” n.p. (ill.).

Barcelona, Galeries Catalonia, Exposicio Angel Planells, November 5–20, 1934, cat. 1.
London, New Burlington Galleries, The International Surrealism Exhibition, June 11–July 4, 1936, no. 307.
Madrid, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, El Surrealismo en Espãna: 1924–1939, October 18, 1994–January 9, 1995, traveled to Düsseldorf, Kunsthalle, February 11–April 17, 1995; Kunsthalle Vienna, May 12–July 16, 1995, pp. 255 (ill.), 366, no. 160, as Mediodia triste.

Roland Penrose (died 1984), London, acquired directly from the artist, probably summer 1936 to 1984 [letter February 11, 2004 from Antony W. R. Penrose, in curatorial file]; by descent to his son, Antony W. R. Penrose, Sussex, England, 1984 to c. 1992 [letter mentioned above]; sold to Timothy Baum, New York, c. 1992 [Timothy Baum, in conversation with Stephanie D’Alessandro, September 15, 2003]; sold to the Art Institute, 1993.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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