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Yves Tanguy was an early and enduring proponent of Surrealism. His idea was to capture the magic of dream reality, and to do so, he employed every tool at his disposal to convince us of the truth of what we are seeing in his works. The vertical objects cast shadows, occupy space, and are modeled with light and dark—all the hallmarks of real-world perception. Our brain thus becomes convinced that Tanguy’s inventions exist because they are rendered so carefully. The background suggests space, but without any specificity, and we believe in the two objects without understanding them—this, too, an extension of dream logic.

Just before World War II, Tanguy left France for the United States with his future wife, the American painter Kay Sage (who donated this painting to the Hood). The couple spent the remainder of their lives deeply involved in the New York art scene. When comparing this work with the Sage photograph on view nearby, it becomes clear that their somewhat airless “dreamscapes” had a lot in common.

From the 2019 exhibition Cubism and Its Aftershocks, curated by John R. Stomberg Ph.D, Virginia Rice Kelsey 1961s Director

Course History

FREN 25, Introduction to French Literature and Culture IV: Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries, Aimee Kilbane, Spring 2012

FREN 25, Introduction to French Literature and Culture IV: Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries, Aimee Kilbane, Spring 2012

SART 17, Collage: Bridging the Gap, Esme Thompson, Fall 2013

ARTH 41.02, 20th Century European Art 1900-1945, Katie Hornstein, Fall 2021

SART 76, Senior Seminar, Enrico Riley, Winter 2022

SART 31, SART 72, Painting II/III, Tom Ferrara, Summer 2022

Exhibition History

Churchill P. Lathrop at Dartmouth 1928-1978, Strauss and Barrows Galleries, Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 20-November 26, 1978.

Churchill P. Lathrop Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 30-July 12, 2006.

Citrin Family Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, April 24-July 22, 2019.

Curator's Choice: Dartmouth Collection from the Permanent Collection, Jaffe-Friede, Strauss and Barrows Galleries, Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 29, 1976-January 16, 1977.

Director's Choice, Jaffe-Friede Gallery, Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 10-July 10, 1966.

The Greater Reality, Anselm's College, Manchester, New Hampshire, April 5-May 22, 1968.

The Protean Century, 1870-1970, A Loan Exhibition from The Dartmouth College Collection, Alumni and Friends of the College [under the auspices of the Dartmouth Arts Council], M. Knoedler & Company, Inc, New York, New York, February 10-28, 1970.

Twentieth Century Works from the Dartmouth Collection, Prof. Jordan's Twentieth Century and Contemporary Art course, Harrington Gallery Teaching Exhibition, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 19-May 29, 1988.

Publication History

The Protean Century, 1870-1970, Hanover, New Hampshire: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 1970, no. 62.

Provenance

Kay Sage Tanguy (artist's wife); given to present collection, 1966.

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