Dorothea Tanning’s prolific art career spanned seven decades and two continents. The surrealist artist was born in 1910 in Galesburg, IL, and moved to Chicago in 1930. Here she attended night classes at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago while working at a restaurant. But it was when she moved to New York 5 years later that she first encountered surrealism at the Museum of Art’s seminal 1936 exhibition. This was the spark that ignited Tanning’s career.
By the 1940s, she was an established surrealist artist, and her work focused mainly on lust, desire, and sexuality. Her work during this time caught the eye of fellow artist Max Ernst, whom she married in 1946. The couple relocated to Sedona, AZ, and later to Paris, France, where they lived until Ernst’s death in 1980.
Over the decades, Tanning’s art went through various transformations. The first, and most obvious, the influence was surrealism and the themes of lust and sexuality. By the time she lived in Paris in the 1950’s Tanning’s paintings became more abstract. In the ’60s, Tanning changed mediums completely and began making grand-scale sculptures out of fabric. The most well-known being a life-sized depiction of an imaginary hotel room titled Chambre 202, Hotel du Pavot 1970-3. This piece depicts bodies growing out of the walls of a fictional hotel room and offers a fascinating glimpse into the mind of one of the most famous surreal artists in history.
Tanning continued to switch mediums for the rest of her life and spent much of her time writing in her older age. Her final book of poems, Coming To That, was published in the last year of her life at the age of 101. She passed away in 2012.
Collections of Tanning’s work are held in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Tate Gallery in London, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Here are some of the famous artworks by Dorothea Tanning:
1. A Little Night Music
A Little Night Music is a Surrealist Oil on Canvas Painting created by Dorothea Tanning in 1943.
2. The Temptation Of Saint Anthony
The Temptation of St. Anthony is a painting by Spanish surrealist artist Dorothea Tanning in 1945.
3. Interior With Sudden Joy
‘Interior with Sudden Joy’ was created in 1951 by Dorothea Tanning in Surrealism style.
4. Some Roses And Their Phantoms
Some Roses and Their Phantoms was made by Dorothea Tanning in 1952.
5. The Guest Room
Another fascinatingly unsettling painting by Dorothea Tanning was The Guest Room made in 1952.
6. Insomnies
The Insomnias is one of the Famous Artworks, produced by Dorothea Tanning In 1957.
7. Rainy-Day Canapé
Rainy-Day Canapé was Made in the year 1970 by Dorothea Tanning.
8. A Mi-Voix
A Mi-Voix is a large, vertically oriented, abstract painting made in 1958 By Dorothea Tanning.
9. Pincushion to Serve as Fetish
Pincushion to Serve as Fetish, 1965, was one of the earliest sculptures Dorothea Tanning made.
10. Nue couchée
Nue couchée, 1969-70, is one of a group of soft sculptures made by Tanning that evoke the female body.
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