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Untitled

Large painting on seven panels of dark landscape with small abstract shapes.
© 2018 Estate of Yves Tanguy / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

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  • Large painting on seven panels of dark landscape with small abstract shapes.

Date:

1928

Artist:

Yves Tanguy
American, born France, 1900–1955

About this artwork

The largely self-taught Yves Tanguy decided to become an artist around 1923, when he was inspired by a painting by Giorgio de Chirico that he saw in a shop window. Tanguy became interested in Surrealism a year later, after reading the periodical La révolution surréaliste. André Breton welcomed him into the Surrealist group in 1925. Inspired by the metaphysical qualities of de Chirico’s work, as well as the biomorphic forms of Jean Arp, Max Ernst, and Joan Miró, Tanguy quickly developed his own fantastic vocabulary of organic, amoeba-like shapes that populate mysterious, dreamlike settings.

Tanguy painted this primordial landscape on a hinged wooden screen. Little information exists about the circumstances of the work’s making, but the artist probably intended it for a patron’s home, since many Surrealists were interested in the decorative arts and produced folding screens, furniture, and other domestic objects. In this unusual example, although the screen retains the potential to close off the private sphere, it simultaneously opens up more intimate dreams and fantasies to the outside world.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Modern Art

Artist

Yves Tanguy

Title

Untitled

Place

United States (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.

1928

Medium

Oil on wood

Inscriptions

Signed, l.r.: "YVES TANGUY.28"

Dimensions

Two sets of four joined panels, each panel: 200.1 × 59.7 cm (78 3/4 × 23 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Joseph Winterbotham Collection

Reference Number

1988.434a-b

Copyright

© 2018 Estate of Yves Tanguy / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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