Yves Tanguy
dal 25/10/2007 al 12/1/2008
Segnalato da
Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya
25/10/2007
Yves Tanguy
MNAC - Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona
The Surrealist Universe. The exhibition comprises over 250 pieces. About 50 of his paintings, the most important part of his work, are exhibited, from the early post-Cubist and Expressionist works of 1924 to Multiplication of the Arcs, painted shortly before he died. The show is completed with a large number of pieces from his graphic work: washes, engravings, "automatic drawings" and "exquisite cadavers", books and magazines of the time.
The Surrealist Universe
Classed as “the most surrealist of the Surrealists” by André Breton, the driving force behind this artistic movement, Yves Tanguy (Paris, 1900 – Woodbury, Connecticut, 1955) is today one of its representatives least-known to the public at large.
A sailor and a self-taught painter, Tanguy began his career in France, but he established his reputation as an artist in the United States, where he emigrated in 1939 and lived until his death.
Most of his work is conserved in museums in the United States, and is now being shown in the MNAC in what is the first major retrospective dedicated to this French artist to be seen in Spain.
The exhibition, organized in collaboration with the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Quimper, comprises over two hundred and fifty pieces. About fifty of his paintings, the most important part of his work, are exhibited, from the early post-Cubist and Expressionist works of 1924 to Multiplication of the Arcs, painted shortly before he died. The discourse of the exhibition is completed with a large number of pieces from his graphic work: washes, engravings, “automatic drawings” and “exquisite cadavers”, Surrealist games that Tanguy shared with friends of his like Joan Miró, André Breton or Jacques Prévert. Books and magazines of the time illustrated by Tanguy, photographs by Man Ray or Dora Maar and other unpublished documentation help to contextualize the painter’s Surrealist universe.
Valuable works have been loaned for the exhibition by public and private institutions all over the world, and by many private collections. This is a unique opportunity to see the work of one of the great names from the art world of the first half of the 20th century.
As the exhibition’s curator André Cariou, chief curator of the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Quimper, points out, “Yves Tanguy, the greatest French Surrealist painter, classed as a Surrealist painter par excellence, is still unknown today. Without doubt, the general public appreciates the images à la Magritte or the extravagances à la Dalí more, but the favour of the connoisseurs remains intact… His work continues to fascinate all those who are prepared to delve into it.”
Series of lectures
Coordinated by Lourdes Cirlot (UB) and Victoria Cirlot (UB)
Wednesday, October 31st
Opening of the series by M. Teresa Ocaña, director of the MNAC
Legends of Surrealist Painting
Lourdes Cirlot, Professor of Art History at the University of Barcelona
De l’objet surréaliste…
Emmanuel Guigon, director of the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Besançon
Wednesday, November 7th
The Literary Collage: Victor Hugo in the Origins of Surrealism
Victoria Cirlot, lecturer in Romance Literature and Comparative Literature at the Pompeu Fabra University
Au defaut du surréalisme
Visit and lecture at the exhibition Yves Tanguy. The Surrealist Universe with Vincent Gille, Maison Victor Hugo, Paris
Wednesday, November 14th
Yves Tanguy: à la découverte du “peintre surréaliste par excellence”
André Cariou, director of the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Quimper, and curator of the exhibition
Visit to the exhibition Yves Tanguy. The Surrealist Universe
André Cariou
Wednesday, November 21st
Surrealism and Film
Anna Casanovas, lecturer in Art History at the University of Barcelona
Visit to the exhibition The Catalan Object in the Light of Surrealism
Elena Llorens, Modern Art Collection, MNAC, and curator of the exhibition
Wednesday, November 28th
Musidora, Nadja et Gradiva. La femme et le surréalisme
Georges Sebbag, writer and historian of Surrealism
Juan-Eduardo Cirlot and the World of the Object
Enrique Granell, lecturer at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia
Two-hour sessions
Visit to both exhibitions
2 credits of their choice for University of Barcelona students
Dates Wednesdays, October 31st, November 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th
Times 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. and 6.30 p.m. to 8.30 p.m.
Venue Lecture Hall
Places limited
For information and enrolment phone 93 622 03 75 and grups@mnac.cat (you will receive confirmation)
Studies of surrealism
Four artists take a look at the Surrealist universe of Yves Tanguy and the world of Catalan object art.
Tuesday, November 6th
Perejaume, artist and writer
Tuesday, November 13th
Sergi Aguilar, sculptor and Director of the Fundació Sunyol
Tuesday November 20th
Joan Fontcuberta, photographer
Tuesday, November 27th
Vicenç Altaió, writer, essayist and ideas dealer, director of KRTU
Time: 7 p.m.
Venue exhibition room
Places Limited
For information and enrolment, tel. 93 622 03 75 or at grups@mnac.cat (you will receive confirmation)
Image: Yves Tanguy, El Palacio de los peñascos de ventanas, 1942. Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, París © Photo CNAC/MNAM dist. RMN
Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC). Palau Nacional.
Parc de Montjuïc. 08038 Barcelona
Opening times
Tuesday to Saturday: 10 am to 7 pm
Sunday and public holidays: 10 am to 2.30 pm
Monday: closed, except public holidays
Closed: January 1st, May 1st and December 25th
Free entrance: First Sunday of each month
General ticket: € 8,50