Yves Tanguy
The Earth and the Air
1940
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Yves Tanguy
The Earth and the Air
1940
Physical Qualities
Oil on canvas, Unframed: 45 x 36 in. (114.3 x 91.4 cm) Framed: 49 3/4 x 40 7/8 x 3 1/2 in. (126.4 x 103.8 x 8.9 cm)
Credit Line
Bequest of Saidie A. May
Object Number
1951.363
Yves Tanguy born Paris, France 1900; died Woodbury, CT 1955
The Earth and the Air
1941
Oil on canvas
Uncanny objects appear scattered in a vast landscape indicated by a horizon line and cloudy sky. Yves Tanguy’s most characteristic works are painted in this meticulous style with highly distinctive imagery, which often feature half-marine and half-lunar landscapes where oddly shaped objects proliferate in a ghostly dreamlike space.
Tanguy worked as a mariner before he took up painting after seeing works by Giorgio de Chirico (1888–1978) in 1923. He soon joined the Surrealist group of artists in Paris, France, before immigrating to the United States in 1939, where he lived for the rest of his life together with American painter Kay Sage (1898–1963), his wife.
Bequest of Saidie A. May, BMA 1951.363
The Baltimore Museum of Art by bequest, 1951; The Baltimore Museum of Art on extended loan, 1941-1951; from Saidie A. May, by purchase 1941; from Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "The Saidie A. May Collection of Modern Paintings and Sculpture," March 17 - April 16, 1950, cat. 104.
Wadsworth Atheneum, "Kay Sage - Yves Tanguy," 1954.
Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Hagerstown, MD, "Selections from the May Collection," September 27-October 31, 1957.
Public Education Association, Pierre Matisse Gallery, NY, "Seven Decades 1895-1965," April 26 - May 21, 1966.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "20th Century European Paintings and Sculpture," July 9 - September 23, 1969.
Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, MI, "The Surrealists: A Fifth Anniversary Fund Exhibition," 1971.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "The Saidie A. May Collection," September 1972.
Acquavella Galleries, Inc., "Yves Tanguy," November 7- December 7, 1974.
Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, "Yves Tanguy Retrospective," May 20 - September 27, 1982; Kunsthalle (Baden-Baden) October-December 1982.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, "Exiles and Emigrés: The Flight of European Artists from Hitler," February 20 - May 11, 1997; Montréal Museum of Fine Arts, Jun 19 - September 7, 1997; Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Nationalgalerie, October 9, 1997 - January 4, 1998.
Jan Howard, BMA, "Surrealist Art from the BMA's Collection," 31 March - 20 June 1999.
Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, "Yves Tanguy and Surrealism," December 9, 2000-April 29, 2001; The Menil Collection (Houston), May 31 - September 16, 2002.
Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, "Pierre Matisse and His Artists," February 14, 2002 - May 19, 2002.
Katy Rothkopf, "Matisse, Picasso and the School of Paris," circulated to; North Carolina Museum of Art, October 10, 2004 - January 16, 2005, Naples Museum of Art February 5, 2005 - May 1, 2005.
Wadsworth Atheneum, "Kay Sage - Yves Tanguy," 1954.
Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Hagerstown, MD, "Selections from the May Collection," September 27-October 31, 1957.
Public Education Association, Pierre Matisse Gallery, NY, "Seven Decades 1895-1965," April 26 - May 21, 1966.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "20th Century European Paintings and Sculpture," July 9 - September 23, 1969.
Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, MI, "The Surrealists: A Fifth Anniversary Fund Exhibition," 1971.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "The Saidie A. May Collection," September 1972.
Acquavella Galleries, Inc., "Yves Tanguy," November 7- December 7, 1974.
Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, "Yves Tanguy Retrospective," May 20 - September 27, 1982; Kunsthalle (Baden-Baden) October-December 1982.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, "Exiles and Emigrés: The Flight of European Artists from Hitler," February 20 - May 11, 1997; Montréal Museum of Fine Arts, Jun 19 - September 7, 1997; Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Nationalgalerie, October 9, 1997 - January 4, 1998.
Jan Howard, BMA, "Surrealist Art from the BMA's Collection," 31 March - 20 June 1999.
Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, "Yves Tanguy and Surrealism," December 9, 2000-April 29, 2001; The Menil Collection (Houston), May 31 - September 16, 2002.
Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, "Pierre Matisse and His Artists," February 14, 2002 - May 19, 2002.
Katy Rothkopf, "Matisse, Picasso and the School of Paris," circulated to; North Carolina Museum of Art, October 10, 2004 - January 16, 2005, Naples Museum of Art February 5, 2005 - May 1, 2005.
Vogue, "Surrealism," September 17, 1946. Sunday Sun, "Object of the Week," 10-14-1956.
The Baltimore Museum of Art News, “Catalogue of the Saidie A. May Collection of Modern Paintings and Sculpture,” March, 1950, cat. 104, p. 24.
Public Education Association and Pierre Matisse Gallery, NY, "Seven Decades 1895-1965," April 2 6 - May 21, 1966, cat. 198, p. 112.
Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, "The Surrealists: A Fifth Anniversary Fund Exhibition," 1971, repro.
Acquavella Galleries, Inc., "Yves Tanguy," New York: 1974, cat. 25.
Stephanie Barron, "Yves Tanguy in Connecticut," in "Exiles & Emigrés: The Flight of European Artists from Hitler," Los Angeles: 1997, cat. 131.
René Le Bihan, Renée Mabin, and Martica Sawin, "Yves Tanguy," Quimper-France: Editions Palantines, 2001, fig. 76.
Susan Helen Adler, "Saidie May Pioneer of Early 20th Century Collecting", United States: Stonehouse Design, 2008, p. 180.
Greeley, Robin Adele, Samantha Kavky, Oliver Shell, and Oliver Tostmann. "Monsters & Myths: Surrealism and War in the 1930s and 1940s." New York, NY: Rizzoli Electa in association with The Baltimore Museum of Art and Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, 2018, ill.
Inscribed: Signed, lower right: 'Yves Tanguy 1941'
On View at the BMA
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