Multiplication of the Arcs - Yves Tanguy
Archival giclée
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Description
A seminal Surrealist work from 1954, featuring a dense, otherworldly plain of biomorphic forms under a heavy, grey sky.
Multiplication of the Arcs, painted in 1954, represents the final phase of Yves Tanguy's career. The composition features a vast, desolate plain populated by a dense collection of biomorphic, stone-like forms. These objects, rendered with precise, smooth surfaces, occupy a space that recedes into a low, dark horizon line under a heavy, overcast sky. Unlike his earlier works, which often placed isolated objects in empty voids, this painting fills the pictorial space with a crowded, almost claustrophobic arrangement of shapes.
Tanguy developed his unique visual language through a process of automatic drawing and meticulous application of paint. The forms in this work appear to be mineral or organic, yet they defy specific classification. Their arrangement creates a sense of rhythmic repetition, as if the objects are growing or accumulating across the surface of the earth. The colour palette is restricted to cool greys, muted blues, and earthy tones, which contributes to the sterile, otherworldly atmosphere of the scene.
This painting is held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It demonstrates the artist's ability to create a convincing sense of three-dimensional space while depicting entirely imaginary subjects. The precision of the shadows and the consistent lighting across the objects provide a grounded quality to the otherwise alien environment. Tanguy's work remains a primary example of the Surrealist interest in the subconscious and the creation of dream-like, non-representational realities. The work invites the viewer to observe the minute variations in the shapes, which range from flat, plate-like structures to more complex, rounded volumes. The lack of a clear narrative or symbolic key forces an engagement with the formal qualities of the painting, such as the balance between the crowded foreground and the expansive, empty sky.
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Each print is produced to order using 12-colour giclée printing on FSC-certified archival paper. Designed in Britain and printed at your nearest production hub to reduce waste and speed up delivery.
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Specific Features
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Museum-grade giclée on FSC-certified archival matte paper, with framed and canvas options.
- Paper sizes: A4, A3, A2, A1, A0 and B2 (50×70 cm)
- Canvas: XS (20×30 cm) to Large (60×90 cm)
- Frames: black, natural wood, dark wood or white
Multiplication of the Arcs - Yves Tanguy
Artist Biography
Yves Tanguy
He was born in Paris in 1900. He briefly joined the merchant navy in 1918 before being drafted into the army, where he met the poet Jacques Prevert, who later introduced him to Andre Breton's Surrealist circle. He joined the Surrealists in 1925 and had his first solo show just two years later, having taught himself everything.
His paintings consistently depict flat, featureless landscapes resembling sea floors or alien terrain, populated by biomorphic forms that look like melted rocks or bones. He never explained them. The palette is muted, the horizons infinite, the atmosphere airless. The same vocabulary of forms appears across decades of work with only gradual variation.
He married the American Surrealist painter Kay Sage in Reno, Nevada, in 1940. They settled in Woodbury, Connecticut, converting an old farmhouse into a studio. He died there in 1955, aged fifty-five.
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