Yves Tanguy

Baron & Baronne Urvater, Brussels
Private Collection, Europe

Ostende, Kursaal, Art Fantastique, 1953, no. 75, illustrated in the catalogue
Antwerp, Zaal C.A.W., De Vier hoofdpunten van het surrealisme/Les quatre points cardinaux du Surréalisme: René Magritte, Yves Tanguy, Joan Miró, Max Ernst, 1956, no. 32
Otterlo, Museum Kröller-Müller & Liège, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Collection Urvater, 1957, no. 111, illustrated in the catalogue
Leicester, Leicester Museum and Art Gallery; York, City of York Art Gallery & London, Tate Gallery, Paintings from the Urvater Collection, 1958, no. 82, illustrated in the catalogue
Belfast, Municipal Museum and Art Gallery, The Urvater Collection, 1959, no. 82
Belgrade & Zagreb, Nadrealisti, Apstraktni, Zbirka Urvater, 1959, no. 111
Brussels, Galerie Govaerts, Hommage à Paul-Gustave Van Hecke, 1969, illustrated in the catalogue
Munich, Haus der Kunst & Paris, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Der Surrealismus 1922-1942, 1972, no. 427 (no. 412 in Paris), illustrated in the catalogue

Marcel Jean, Histoire de la peinture surréaliste, Paris, 1959, illustrated p. 165
Kay Sage Tanguy et al., Yves Tanguy. Un Recueil de ses œuvres / A Summary of his Works, New York, 1963, no. 84, illustrated p. 66
Daniel Marchesseau, Yves Tanguy, Paris, 1973, illustrated in colour p. 16
Patrick Waldberg, Les Demeures d'Hypnos, Paris, 1976, illustrated in colour p. 251
Patrick Waldberg, Yves Tanguy, Brussels, 1977, illustrated in colour p. 130

The canvas is lined. Apart from two small spots of retouching to the centre of the left and right edges, visible under ultra-violet light, this work is in good condition. Colours: The lower half of the work is overall less blue and and grey in tonality.
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The iconography of Tanguy's early work was inspired by his childhood summers spent near Finistère in Brittany on the western coast of France, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. It was there that he observed the expanses of the sea and the objects floating on water or washed up on the shores, elements that, subjectively transformed, frequently appear in the dream world of his art. As is the case with many of his paintings, the sea occupies the majority of the composition, giving it the characteristic blue tonality, populated by mysterious, amorphous creatures. In his youth, Tanguy was a cadet in the Merchant Navy, and his dreams of adventure were always inspired by the sea. When he took up painting, these fantasies of his youth were transformed into painterly compositions that evoke the exotic life and mystery of the ocean floor.

 

Le Plan des sources was formerly in the collection of the Baron & Baroness Urvater, who were among Belgium's most distinguished collectors of Surrealist art. Works from their collection have been donated to some of the major international museum, such as the Tate Gallery in London. The present painting was included in a major touring exhibition of their Surrealist collection in the late 1950s.