Tanguy, Yves | Colección

20th Century French

A self-taught painter, he decided to become an artist after having seen and being deeply impressed by a work of Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978) on view in the window of the Paul Guillaume gallery in Paris.

In 1924, after discovering the publication La Revolution surréaliste (The Spanish Revolution) Tanguy decided to join the Surrealist movement which was founded in 1916 by Andrè Breton (1896-1966) and included such great artists as Max Ernst (1891-1976), Hans Arp (1887-1966), Salvador Dalí (1904-1989) and Paul Éluard (1895-1952), among others. In 1927 he had his first solo exhibition in Galerie Surréaliste in Paris.

In the 1930s he travelled to Africa, an adventure that brought about a complete change of style in his work. From that moment Tanguy included in his production images of geological bodies. On his return from Africa he met the woman who would be his second wife, the US painter Kay Sage (1898-1963), with whom he emigrated to the USA following the outbreak of World War II, after being judged unfit for military service. In this country he strengthened his friendship with Pierre Matisse, the son of the painter Henri Matisse (1869-1954). Before the war ended in 1945 the artist had four exhibitions at his gallery, one of them accompanied by a lavish catalogue designed by Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) and featuring an essay by André Breton, in which the theorist of Surrealism penned some of the most beautiful words ever written about his artist: “Yves Tanguy, le peintre des épouvantables élégances aériennes, souterraines et maritimes, l´homme en qui je vois la parure morale de ce temps: mon adorable ami”.

Tanguy died in 1955 at his home in Woodbury and some years later, after his wife’s death, their ashes were scattered together on the beach in Douarnenez, in Brittany, by his good friend, the art dealer Pierre Matisse (1900-1989).

His works were displayed in many solo and group shows, and they may be found in the collections of major art institutions such as Guggenheim Museum (New York), Tate (London), and Museo Nacional Thyssen Bornemisza (Madrid).