
Collection Online as of December 8, 2023
(French, 1900–1955)
Color etching
Support: Wove paper
Platemark: 29.7 x 22.4 cm (11 11/16 x 8 13/16 in.); Sheet: 40.7 x 33 cm (16 x 13 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 2016.4
© Estate of Yves Tanguy / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Catalogue raisonné: Wittrock 13
Edition: 22/70
not on view
In his Surrealist compositions, the painter and printmaker Yves Tanguy conjured mysterious forms that seem to float in otherworldly expanses. Although rhabdomancie means dowsing, or searching underground for water, Surrealist titles were not meant to explain content but to set a poetic mood. The three figures in this composition could be involved in the activity of searching; accessing the subconscious played an important role in Tanguy’s artistic practice.