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 (460 results)
Sans titre – Personnages, 1975

Dorothea Tanning

Sans titre – Personnages, 1975

Sale Date: October 24, 2023

Auction Closed

Le soir à Salonique, 1965

Dorothea Tanning

Le soir à Salonique, 1965

Sale Date: October 24, 2023

Auction Closed

Sans titre – Personnages, 1975

Dorothea Tanning

Sans titre – Personnages, 1975

Sale Date: October 24, 2023

Auction Closed

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

Dorothea Tanning

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

Sale Date: October 20, 2023

Auction Closed

La Descente dans la rue, 1968

Dorothea Tanning

La Descente dans la rue, 1968

Sale Date: October 20, 2023

Auction Closed

Large and Friendly, 1988

Dorothea Tanning

Large and Friendly, 1988

Sale Date: October 4, 2023

Auction Closed

One Plate, from La mysticité charnelle de..., 1967

Dorothea Tanning

One Plate, from La mysticité charnelle de..., 1967

Sale Date: August 14, 2023

Auction Closed

Untitled (from the Bonjour Max Ernst..., 1976

Dorothea Tanning

Untitled (from the Bonjour Max Ernst..., 1976

Sale Date: July 27, 2023

Auction Closed

Bateau bleu (The Grotto), 1950, 1950

Dorothea Tanning

Bateau bleu (The Grotto), 1950, 1950

Sale Date: June 27, 2023

Auction Closed

La Marée, 1970

Dorothea Tanning

La Marée, 1970

Sale Date: June 16, 2023

Auction Closed

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

Dorothea Tanning

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

Sale Date: May 18, 2023

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1968

Dorothea Tanning

Untitled, 1968

Sale Date: May 12, 2023

Auction Closed

The Intersections of Constant Desire, 1947

Dorothea Tanning

The Intersections of Constant Desire, 1947

Sale Date: April 20, 2023

Auction Closed

Le Nil

Dorothea Tanning

Le Nil

Sale Date: April 13, 2023

Auction Closed

Le Nil

Dorothea Tanning

Le Nil

Sale Date: April 13, 2023

Auction Closed

Les 7 périls spectraux (Waddell, 6), 1950

Dorothea Tanning

Les 7 périls spectraux (Waddell, 6), 1950

Sale Date: March 29, 2023

Auction Closed

Bâteau bleu, 1950

Dorothea Tanning

Bâteau bleu, 1950

Sale Date: March 15, 2023

Auction Closed

DOROTHEA TANNING COMBAT., 1975

Dorothea Tanning

DOROTHEA TANNING COMBAT., 1975

Sale Date: March 23, 2023

Auction Closed

DOROTHEA TANNING BIRTHDAY (SELF PORTRAIT AT AGE...

Dorothea Tanning

DOROTHEA TANNING BIRTHDAY (SELF PORTRAIT AT AGE...

Sale Date: March 23, 2023

Auction Closed

Accueil, 1958

Dorothea Tanning

Accueil, 1958

Sale Date: March 2, 2023

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1978

Dorothea Tanning

Untitled, 1978

Sale Date: March 8, 2023

Auction Closed

The Moonstone Effect (formerly Opale, Opale, , 1959

Dorothea Tanning

The Moonstone Effect (formerly Opale, Opale, , 1959

Sale Date: February 28, 2023

Auction Closed

Visite jaune (Visite éclair), 1960

Dorothea Tanning

Visite jaune (Visite éclair), 1960

Sale Date: February 28, 2023

Auction Closed

Blue ship

Dorothea Tanning

Blue ship

Sale Date: December 10, 2022

Auction Closed

English (US)

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