Dorothea Tanning

(American, 1910–2012)

Dorothea Tanning was an American artist best known for her Surrealist paintings. Tanning often used her own dreams as inspiration, as seen in her self-portrait Birthday (1942), in which the artist stands bare-breasted with a griffin-like creature on the floor before her. “My dreams are bristling with objects that relate to nothing in the dictionary,” she once said. “Dreams one reads in books are composed of known symbols but it is their strangeness that distinguishes them.” Born on August 25, 1910 in Galesburg, IL, she went on to attend Knox College, before moving to Chicago in 1930. Once in the city, she attended night classes at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago while working as a waitress. In 1935, Tanning relocated to New York, where she found employment as a commercial artist and first encountered the works of the Surrealists. Five years later, as the flood of refugee artists from Europe during World War II came to the city, Tanning was introduced to Yves Tanguy, Salvador Dalí, and her future husband Max Ernst. It is notable that Ernst left his current wife, the collector Peggy Guggenheim, for Tanning in 1946. The married couple would go on to live in Sedona, AZ, before relocating to France in 1949. The artist returned to New York in 1980 after the death of her husband in Paris. She died at the age of 101 on January 31, 2012 in New York, NY. Today, Tanning’s works are held in the collections of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Tate Gallery in London, and The Museum of Modern Art in New York, among others.

Artworks for Sale &
Auction Results

Dorothea Tanning (486 results)
Paysage arctique, 1960

Dorothea Tanning

Paysage arctique, 1960

Sale Date: September 17, 2020

Auction Closed

Birthday (Self Portrait at age 30, 1942), 1970

Dorothea Tanning

Birthday (Self Portrait at age 30, 1942), 1970

Sale Date: July 14, 2020

Auction Closed

BAPTÊME, 1959–1961

Dorothea Tanning

BAPTÊME, 1959–1961

Sale Date: June 29, 2020

Auction Closed

HIGH WIRES, 1950

Dorothea Tanning

HIGH WIRES, 1950

Sale Date: June 29, 2020

Auction Closed

SANS TITRE, 1961

Dorothea Tanning

SANS TITRE, 1961

Sale Date: June 19, 2020

Auction Closed

LE CHIEN, 1972

Dorothea Tanning

LE CHIEN, 1972

Sale Date: June 19, 2020

Auction Closed

SANS TITRE, 1965

Dorothea Tanning

SANS TITRE, 1965

Sale Date: June 19, 2020

Auction Closed

Sketch for Pictor Mysteriosa (Burnt Umbrage), 1997

Dorothea Tanning

Sketch for Pictor Mysteriosa (Burnt Umbrage), 1997

Sale Date: June 12, 2020

Auction Closed

STUDY FOR

Dorothea Tanning

STUDY FOR "LES INFATIGABLES, 1965

Sale Date: May 18, 2020

Auction Closed

Premier péril (First Peril) from Les 7..., 1950

Dorothea Tanning

Premier péril (First Peril) from Les 7..., 1950

Sale Date: April 30, 2020

Auction Closed

Bateau bleu, 1950, 1950

Dorothea Tanning

Bateau bleu, 1950, 1950

Sale Date: May 14, 2020

Auction Closed

NAUFRAGE EN BLEU, 1957

Dorothea Tanning

NAUFRAGE EN BLEU, 1957

Sale Date: February 5, 2020

Auction Closed

ORACULAIRE, 1964

Dorothea Tanning

ORACULAIRE, 1964

Sale Date: February 5, 2020

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1960

Dorothea Tanning

Untitled, 1960

Sale Date: February 6, 2020

Auction Closed

Untitled (recto); An Amaryllis (verso), 1998

Dorothea Tanning

Untitled (recto); An Amaryllis (verso), 1998

Sale Date: February 6, 2020

Auction Closed

Sans titre, 1967

Dorothea Tanning

Sans titre, 1967

Sale Date: December 15, 2019

Auction Closed

BOUCLES D'OREILLES ''LE NIL'' EN OR,..., 1966

Dorothea Tanning

BOUCLES D'OREILLES ''LE NIL'' EN OR,..., 1966

Sale Date: December 5, 2019

Auction Closed

Portfolio, 1993

Dorothea Tanning

Portfolio, 1993

Sale Date: December 16, 2019

Auction Closed

Sans titre, 1968

Dorothea Tanning

Sans titre, 1968

Sale Date: November 27, 2019

Auction Closed

NUE COUCHÉE (RECLINING NUDE), 1965

Dorothea Tanning

NUE COUCHÉE (RECLINING NUDE), 1965

Sale Date: November 18, 2019

Auction Closed

EN CHAIR ET EN OR (6 PRINTS), 1973

Dorothea Tanning

EN CHAIR ET EN OR (6 PRINTS), 1973

Sale Date: November 18, 2019

Auction Closed

L'ENTENTE, OUI, 1969

Dorothea Tanning

L'ENTENTE, OUI, 1969

Sale Date: November 18, 2019

Auction Closed

UN PONT BRÛLÉ, 1965

Dorothea Tanning

UN PONT BRÛLÉ, 1965

Sale Date: November 13, 2019

Auction Closed

Floral still life

Dorothea Tanning

Floral still life

Sale Date: November 3, 2019

Auction Closed

English (US)

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