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)
Bateau bleu, 1950

Dorothea Tanning

Bateau bleu, 1950

Sale Date: November 1, 2016

Auction Closed

COMPOSITION, 1946, 1946

Dorothea Tanning

COMPOSITION, 1946, 1946

Sale Date: October 24, 2016

Auction Closed

Birthday (Self Portrait at Age 30), 1942

Dorothea Tanning

Birthday (Self Portrait at Age 30), 1942

Sale Date: September 22, 2016

Auction Closed

Nude, 1990

Dorothea Tanning

Nude, 1990

Sale Date: August 15, 2016

Auction Closed

Composition, 1967

Dorothea Tanning

Composition, 1967

Sale Date: June 16, 2016

Auction Closed

Nue Couchée (Reclining Nude), 1965

Dorothea Tanning

Nue Couchée (Reclining Nude), 1965

Sale Date: June 17, 2016

Auction Closed

AVEC VUE SUR LE BOSPHORE, 1967

Dorothea Tanning

AVEC VUE SUR LE BOSPHORE, 1967

Sale Date: June 22, 2016

Auction Closed

Sketches, 1941

Dorothea Tanning

Sketches, 1941

Sale Date: May 24, 2016

Auction Closed

Portrait of a Woman

Dorothea Tanning

Portrait of a Woman

Sale Date: May 24, 2016

Auction Closed

Delegates, 1975, 1975

Dorothea Tanning

Delegates, 1975, 1975

Sale Date: May 2, 2016

Auction Closed

Open Sesame, 1970

Dorothea Tanning

Open Sesame, 1970

Sale Date: May 11, 2016

Auction Closed

Sailor, 1988

Dorothea Tanning

Sailor, 1988

Sale Date: May 11, 2016

Auction Closed

Watery, 1988

Dorothea Tanning

Watery, 1988

Sale Date: May 11, 2016

Auction Closed

Sans titre, 1963

Dorothea Tanning

Sans titre, 1963

Sale Date: December 2, 2015

Auction Closed

Budapest was Great, 1988, 1988

Dorothea Tanning

Budapest was Great, 1988, 1988

Sale Date: December 15, 2015

Auction Closed

Different People, 1986, 1986

Dorothea Tanning

Different People, 1986, 1986

Sale Date: December 15, 2015

Auction Closed

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

Dorothea Tanning

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

Sale Date: November 19, 2015

Auction Closed

Group of 5 Lithographs, 1985–1992

Dorothea Tanning

Group of 5 Lithographs, 1985–1992

Sale Date: November 20, 2015

Auction Closed

THE MAGIC FLOWER GAME, 1941

Dorothea Tanning

THE MAGIC FLOWER GAME, 1941

Sale Date: November 6, 2015

Auction Closed

Two color etchings with aquatint from, 1973

Dorothea Tanning

Two color etchings with aquatint from, 1973

Sale Date: September 24, 2015

Auction Closed

Bateau bleu, 1950

Dorothea Tanning

Bateau bleu, 1950

Sale Date: August 2, 2015

Auction Closed

Voyeurs, 1970

Dorothea Tanning

Voyeurs, 1970

Sale Date: July 14, 2015

Auction Closed

3 Bll. aus: En Chair et en or, 1973

Dorothea Tanning

3 Bll. aus: En Chair et en or, 1973

Sale Date: June 11, 2015

Auction Closed

Birthday (Self Portrait at age 30)

Dorothea Tanning

Birthday (Self Portrait at age 30)

Sale Date: May 28, 2015

Auction Closed

English (US)

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