1900 -1955 · Surrealism and geology of the unconscious

Infinite horizons, long shadows and biomorphic shapes make Yves Tanguy the incomparable cartographer of dream landscapes.

Raymond Georges Yves Tanguy was born in Paris in 1900 and died in Woodbury, Connecticut, in 1955. His father was Breton and his childhood remained linked to the coasts of Finistère, whose rocks, beaches and marine horizons would later nourish his visual memory. After the death of his father, he led a mobile youth, joined the merchant navy and then completed his military service. His travels in Africa, South America and the Mediterranean accumulated impressions of distant territories. Tanguy received no academic training. According to the often repeated account, the chance discovery of a painting by Giorgio de Chirico in a Parisian window decided his vocation. He met André Breton, joined the surrealist group in 1925 and quickly participated in the movement's exhibitions and publications. His first paintings transformed the Breton horizon into a mental space. On a smooth and indeterminate floor stand biomorphic shapes which seem mineral, bony, mechanical and living at the same time. Their precise modeling projects long shadows, creating the illusion of real light in an impossible world. Mom, Dad is injured!, painted in 1927, imposes this language: unnamed objects, immense distance and enigmatic title combine visual and logical clarity of dreams. Over the years, landscapes are populated with denser architecture. Nest d'amphioxus, The Sun in its Case or Palace of the Promontory give imaginary organisms the coherence of species discovered in a future without humans. There, the movement has not yet stopped, transforming the ground into a field of forces where balance and threat remain suspended. In 1939, Tanguy emigrated to the United States with the painter Kay Sage, whom he married the following year. Installed in Connecticut, he enlarged his formats and complicated his constructions, while the Second World War gave mineral spaces a new gravity. Naturalized American in 1948, he enlarged his formats and complicated his constructions, while the Second World War gave mineral spaces a new gravity. Naturalized American in 1948, he enlarged his formats and made his constructions more complex, while the Second World War gave mineral spaces a new gravity. Naturalized American in 1948, he enlarged his formats and made his constructions more complex, while the Second World War gave mineral spaces a new gravity. Naturalized American in 1948, he enlarged his formats and made his constructions more complex, while the Second World War gave mineral spaces a new gravity. Naturalized American in 1948, he enlarged his makes them credible through shadow, perspective and perfectly mastered material. The "Yves Tanguy" selection notably compares There, the movement has not yet stopped and The Sun in its setting. His reading favors color.

Tanguy paints the unknown with absolute precision: the shadow proves the existence of objects that no one can name.