Yves Tanguy was born in 1900 in Brittany, France. He began his career in the merchant marines and was drafted into the army during the World War I. After the war he settled in Paris, earning his living by different jobs. He never got any formal training in painting. He said that the idea of becoming an artist came to him after he saw a picture by De Chirico in 1923. His friend, the poet Jacques Prévert (1900-77), introduced him into the circle of the Surrealists.
1926. Dessin aquarellé. 31.5 x 24.3 cm. Galerie Cazeau-Beraudiere, Paris, France.
1926. Oil on canvas. 80.3 x 65.4 cm. Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
1926. 100 x 73 cm. Stiftung Sammlung Dieter Scarf zur Erinnerung an Otto Gerstenberg, Kupferstichkabinet, Berlin, Germany.
1927. Oil on canvas. 65 x 54 cm. Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, Germany.
1927. Oil on canvas. 92.1 x 73 cm. The Museum of Modern Arts, New York, NY, USA.
1927. Oil on canvas. 92.1 x 65.4 cm. The Museum of Modern Arts, New York, NY, USA.
1927. Oil on canvas. 100 x 73 cm. Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, Madrid, Spain.
1928. Oil on canvas. 92 x 73 cm. Private collection.
1928. Oil on canvas. 91.4 x 71.1 cm. Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Germany.
1929. Oil on canvas. 118 x 91 cm. Private collection.
1929. Oil on canvas. 60 x 49 cm. Private collection.
1932. Oil on canvas. 35 x 45 cm. Private collection.
1938. Oil on canvas. 54.5 x 46 cm. Kunsthaus, Zurich, Switzerland.
1946. Oil on canvas. 92 x 71 cm. Le Musée d'art moderne de Saint-Étienne.
Modern Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture by Sam Hunter, Daniel Wheeler, John M. Jacobus. Harry N Abrams, 2000.
The Yale Dictionary of Arts and Artists. By Erika Langmuir and Norbert Lynton. Yale University Press. 2000.
A Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Art by Ian Chilvers. Oxford University Press, 1998.
Surrealist Painting (Colour Library) by Simon Wilson. Phaidon Press Inc., 1993.