Minneapolis Institute of Art

Through Birds, Through Fire but Not Through Glass

Yves Tanguy

Date

1943

Medium

Oil on canvas

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Joining the flight of artists from Paris to New York during World War II, Yves Tanguy emigrated to America in 1939. Considered to be Tanguy's finest work from his first American period of 1939 to 1945, the Institute's painting is characterized by bright colors and mysterious, biomorphic forms. In this surreal otherworldly landscape, Tanguy presents us with an ultra-realistic depiction of the unreal by employing a deliberate, precise method of painting. Inexplicable titles, often evocative of a dream state, were used by Surrealists to compel the viewer to search for a deeper meaning or truth in the artwork. France, Europe

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