Paysage avec nuages roses

Author: Marijke Peyser

Yves Tanguy returned to Paris in 1922 at the end of his military service. He renewed his friendship with Jacques Prévert, whom he had got to know in the army, and met Marcel Duhamel. Prévert went on to become a well-known poet and playwright, Duhamel a celebrated author, scriptwriter, actor and translator, and Tanguy a successful self-taught painter. In 1922 none of them had yet thought of writing or painting. From 1923 to 1928 they lived in rue du Château, where their apartment soon became a meeting place for artists. The Surrealists felt at home there, too. In December 1925 Tanguy met André Breton, an encounter that was of great significance to him.^[1] Tanguy was one of Breton’s most loyal friends and assistants until his departure for the United States in 1939. Breton’s influence resulted in fame beyond the borders and paintings that are among the finest Surrealist artworks. Tanguy had his first solo exhibition in Paris in 1927 and Breton wrote the foreword for the catalogue.^[2] The following year saw the publication of Breton’s Le surréalisme et la peinture, which featured illustrations of six of Tanguy’s works. Breton also devoted an essay to the painter.^[3] Tanguy exhibited work in Brussels in 1934 and in Los Angeles in late 1935.^[4] In 1936 he took part in Fantastic Art. Dada, Surrealism in New York.^[5]

In 2007 Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen bought Paysage avec nuages roses from a private collection. Just how significant this purchase was is evidenced by the fact that there were no paintings or works on paper by the artist in Dutch museums. This early work depicts a nocturnal landscape with a high horizon and a deep foreground.^[6] Mysterious organic objects float through space. The undulating earth is indicated by veil-like white lines which are echoed in the thin clouds. Two thin verticals with elegant plumes contrast with the horizontal brushstrokes that build up the landscape. On seeing this canvas viewers get the feeling that they are looking at the landscape head on and from above at the same time.

In the literature this painting is entitled Titre inconnu or Sans titre.^[7] However one of the stickers on the framework on the back reads: ‘Yves Tanguy 1927’ and ‘Paysage nuages roses 25F no 418’ beneath. This was probably added by one of the previous owners of the work. The titles Tanguy gave his paintings were usually not literal descriptions of what was depicted. They often came from the Traité de métapsychique (1922) by the Nobel Prize winner Charles Richet. Breton and Tanguy worked closely together when they were thinking up titles and regularly took them from Richet’s standard work.^[8]