Yves Tanguy

(Paris, 1900 – Woodbury, Connecticut, 1955)

La lumière de l‘ombre (The Light of the Shadow)

1939

oil on canvas

61.2 x 50 cm

Inv. no. 5923

BBVA Collection Spain



Yves Tanguy is one of the greatest exponents of Surrealism. A self-taught artist, Tanguy developed a highly elaborate body of work known for its depiction of dreamlike spaces peopled by elements with an organic appearance that would inspire the landscapes imagined by Salvador Dalí (1904-1989).

On a journey to Africa in the 1930s, Tanguy fell in love with the beauty of its rocky formations and its sunrises and sunsets, images captured in many of the works he painted in those years. Remarkable in them are the pink and ochre tones and in the unfinished, blurred horizons, as seen in this La lumière de l’ombre, so characteristic of that period. In it there is a kind of spatial absence resulting from merging the sky and the earth in a single space, over which soft sinuous forms float freely, presenting a play of contrasting lights and shadows reminiscent of Tanguy’s mentor Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978).

This mid-sized painting is an excellent illustration of the combination of codes adopted by the artist throughout his career. First of all, we would underscore the treatment of the background, executed using paints that had been highly diluted due to the scant amount of pigment and the excess of solvent, merging the salmon and ochre hues that have been applied using large horizontal brushstrokes. Cut out against the flat uniform backdrop where the representation takes place and in which the horizon line cannot be made out, we see an arrangement of soft visceral forms, elaborated using more corporeal and acid tones and which project disproportionate and well-drawn shadows. Finally, the crystalline hues—that Roberto Matta (1911-2002) would also use in his works—are quite remarkable, made using an ethereal white that gives the forms a unique transparent look.

Contemplating this painting conveys a feeling that the scene is seen through a porthole, as if we were looking at the seabed. But the importance which Surrealism lent to the bizarre world of dreams makes us see in this composition a certain quality of cosmic oneirism which on the other hand is compatible with the dreamlike depiction of the seafloor just mentioned. Interestingly, the artist was not keen on giving titles to his compositions and those that do bear a title generally owe it to suggestions by friends and colleagues which the artist was always pleased to accept.

The work at hand is no. 239 in the catalogue of the artist’s work published by Pierre Matisse in 1963. It features a black and white photograph accompanied by a caption with its title and date of execution, as well as the name of its owner at the time (Hugh Chisholm Jr.). To date, the precise date of its arrival in Europe is unknown, but we do know that between April and May 1971 the painting went on display in a retrospective show of the artist held in Turin. There is also a report of its inclusion in an exhibition at Centre d'Arts Santa Mònica, Barcelona in 1988. In 1992 the work belonged to the collection of a major gallery in Madrid and later, in 1996, it was featured in the catalogue of an auction house. It was at that time when it entered the collection of Banco Exterior (currently BBVA) Collection, being one of the most significant paintings in its holdings for its superb quality, coming from a key period in the career of the artist, whose works are not easily found in Spanish private or public collections.