Yves Tanguy / Raymond Georges Yves Tanguy

French surrealist painter Yves Tanguy is best known for his abstract landscapes that still capture the imagination. The self-taught artist was a member of the Surrealist group founded by André Breton. Out of all the members, his unique approach produced some of the purest strains of the style. His artworks are part of numerous private and public collections, including The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, Ulla and Heiner Pietzsch Collection in Berlin, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid and Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh, to name a few.

Yves Tanguy’s Biography

Raymond Georges Yves Tanguy was born in 1900 in Paris. After his military draft ended, he moved to Paris and, in a gallery window, saw a painting by Giorgio de Chirico entitled Child’s Skull (1914). At this moment, Tanguy realized he wished to pursue an art career, even though he had no formal training. While serving in the navi, he became friends with renowned French poet and screenwriter Jacques Prévert, who introduced him to André Breton and the Surrealist circle. The artist began developing his own style while painting in isolation for long periods. His first solo exhibition was in 1927 in Paris. Tanguy struggled for a long time to earn a living. In 1938 Peggy Guggenheim, with whom he had an affair, organized an exhibition of his works at the Guggenheim Jeune gallery in Britain, which was a huge success. After WWII broke out, he moved with his second wife to the US, where he remained until he died in 1955.

Unique Style

In the 1920s, while a member of the Surrealist group, Yves began experimenting with automatism. The technique was very popular with the members, for they believed that creating without prepared ideas or a plan, spontaneously and on pure instinct, would unlock the secrets of unconsciousness. About his technique, Tanguy explained that “the painting develops before my eyes, unfolding its surprises as it progresses.”

It is this which gives me the sense of complete liberty, and for this reason I am incapable of forming a plan or making a sketch beforehand.

The artist was fascinated with marine life and often painted hazy sea creatures and aquatic vegetation, for example, in his work entitled Indefinite Divisibility (1942). Yet he is best known for his vast landscapes populated with biomorphic creatures such as Shadow Country (1927). His works are a study in detail that Yves painstakingly delivered with masterful precision.

Exhibitions

Yves Tanguy took part in numerous group shows throughout his career. In 1947 he participated in Le Surréalisme en, a group show organized by Marcel Duchamp and Breton. Several months after his death Museum of Modern Art in New York held a retrospective of his work. To this day, retrospectives of his works are often organized by renowned museums and galleries around the world. In 2007 Musée des Beaux-arts de Quimper in France held a major exhibition Yves Tanguy.

Featured image: Photo of Yves Tanguy