Yves Tanguy Auction Prices and Value Guide

Yves Tanguy auction prices are tracked in Appraisily's artist market index, with source-directory coverage of 649 records. Use this page to review sold-lot activity, market context, and valuation factors before requesting a formal appraisal.

Yves Tanguy auction prices: quick answer

Yves Tanguy auction prices depend on medium, size, date, condition, provenance, edition details, attribution confidence, and recent comparable auction sales.

Artist
Yves Tanguy
Source records
649
Market update
2026-02-16

Yves Tanguy market snapshot

Yves Tanguy shows deep auction liquidity with 333 tracked lots. Median realized sale is around $13,750. Category concentration is still broad or sparse. Last 12 months recorded 18 sales. Latest recorded sale: 2026-01-13.

Realized price distribution

  • Under $1,000 (8.0% · 21 sales)
  • $1,000 to $10,000 (33.2% · 87 sales)
  • $10,000+ (58.8% · 154 sales)
Median sale (last 12 months)
$9,000
Sales recorded (last 12 months)
18
Median shift vs prior year
+95.7%
Latest recorded sale
2026-01-13

Artist context

About Yves Tanguy

Yves Tanguy (1900–1955), born Raymond Georges Yves Tanguy in Paris, was a French Surrealist painter who became one of the movement's most distinctive visual voices. Entirely self-taught, Tanguy began painting after encountering the work of Giorgio de Chirico in the mid-1920s and formally joined the Surrealist group in 1925. He is best known for dreamlike, expansive landscapes populated by biomorphic forms rendered with meticulous precision. After moving to the United States in 1939, he became an American citizen in 1948 and continued painting until his death in 1955. His work is held in major museum collections worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Tate, and the Centre Pompidou. Collectors encounter Tanguy's work at auction primarily as oil paintings, gouaches, watercolors, collages, and drawings.

Surrealismoil paintinggouachewatercolorcollageabstract biomorphic landscapes

Common works and media

Oil paintings on canvas and panel form the core of Tanguy's auction market. He also produced gouaches, watercolors, collages, and ink or graphite drawings, which appear frequently at auction in Works on Paper and Prints & Multiples sales. His subjects are predominantly abstracted landscape-like compositions with biomorphic and geological forms. RKD records him as an illustrator, collagist, and draftsperson in addition to painter, indicating a range of work types that may surface in appraisal contexts.

Market and appraisal context

Yves Tanguy's auction market is deep and internationally dispersed, with 409 catalogued lots and 330 priced results spanning from 1996 to May 2026. The price distribution is wide: realized prices range from $4 for small prints to $4,040,000 for major oils, with a median of $14,100 and a 75th percentile at $133,038. This dispersion reflects a bifurcated market where original oils and significant works on paper command six- and seven-figure sums at Christie's, Sotheby's, and Bonhams, while prints, etchings, and book illustrations trade in the hundreds-to-low-thousands range at regional houses. The top auction houses by frequency—Christie's, Sotheby's, Ader, Bonhams, and Tajan—span New York, London, Paris, and Zurich, confirming sustained international demand. Recent highlights include a 1938 oil, Je tourne la tête vers moi, realizing $1,420,000 at Bonhams (November 2025) and an oil on canvasboard, Hérédité des qualités acquises, achieving £495,300 at Christie's (March 2026). Liquidity has moderated slightly: 14 lots appeared in the most recent 12-month window versus 20 in the prior period, but the mix of blue-chip and regional houses suggests healthy ongoing circulation across medium tiers.

Auction categories and appraisal factors

Common auction categories

  • Impressionist and Modern Art
  • Post-War and Contemporary Art
  • Works on Paper
  • Prints and Multiples
  • Old Master and 19th Century Drawings

Value drivers

  1. [object Object]

Appraisal caveats

  • The source pack does not include specific auction result data; realized prices and price trends should be verified against live auction databases
  • Authentication and attribution of works on paper require expert examination; some unsigned or lightly signed works may need specialist review
  • [object Object]

Evidence

Sources for artist context

This source-grounded artist context passed Appraisily's promotion threshold: high confidence, strong sources.

Source-grounded artist Markdown

Data basis

This page is built from Appraisily's public auction market index. Private transactions, incomplete sale feeds, and attribution changes may not be fully represented.

LLM-readable Markdown summary for Yves Tanguy

LLM summary index · LLM full index

Artist value FAQ

How much is Yves Tanguy worth?

Comparable public auction sales are the best starting point, but final value depends on the specific artwork, condition, size, medium, provenance, and attribution confidence.

Can Appraisily value my Yves Tanguy artwork?

Yes. Appraisily can review photos, dimensions, signatures, condition, provenance, and comparable market data to prepare a current valuation.