# Yves Tanguy artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/yves-tanguy/
Profile generated: 2026-05-06T19:08:42.694Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1900-01-05
- Death date: 1955-01-15
- Nationality: French, American
- Movements: Surrealism
- Common media: oil painting, gouache, watercolor, collage, drawing

## 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.

## 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 is among the most recognized Surrealist painters, and his mature-period oil paintings—especially those featuring his signature otherworldly landscapes—command strong interest at international auction. Works on paper including gouaches, watercolors, and drawings appear regularly and represent a more accessible segment. Valuation depends on medium, size, date of execution, provenance, condition, and whether the work is authenticated against the catalogue raisonné. The RKD Netherlands documents over 500 catalogued images attributed to Tanguy, reflecting his substantial body of work. Collectors should verify attribution carefully, particularly for works on paper.

## Appraisily data basis

This Appraisily artist page combines structured identity research from Getty ULAN, VIAF, the Library of Congress, RKD Netherlands, Wikidata, and major museum sources with auction records, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. Biographical claims are cited to authority files and institution-grade sources.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q164720
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yves_Tanguy
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500025688
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/66481523/
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n50009559
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/5804
- Tate: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/yves-tanguy-2023
- RKD: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/76470