 raymond georges yves tanguy (january 5, 1900 &ndash; january 15, 1955), known as yves tanguy, was a french surrealist painter. ==biography== tanguy, the son of a retired navy captain, was born at the ministry of naval affairs on place de la concorde in paris, france. his parents were both of breton origin. after his father's death in 1908, his mother moved back to her native locronan, finistÃ¨re, and he ended up spending much of his youth living with various relatives. in 1918, yves tanguy briefly joined the merchant navy before being drafted into the army, where he befriended jacques prÃ©vert. at the end of his military service in 1922, he returned to paris, where he worked various odd jobs. by chance, he stumbled upon a painting by giorgio de chirico and was so deeply impressed he resolved to become a painter himself in spite of his complete lack of formal training. tanguy had a habit of being completely absorbed by the current painting he was working on. this way of creating artwork may have been due to his very small studio which only had enough room for one wet piece. through his friend jacques prÃ©vert, in around 1924 tanguy was introduced into the circle of surrealist artists around andrÃ© breton. tanguy quickly began to develop his own unique painting style, giving his first solo exhibition in paris in 1927, and marrying his first wife later that same year. during this busy time of his life, andrÃ© breton gave tanguy a contract to paint 12 pieces a year. with his fixed income, he painted less and only ended up creating eight works of art for breton. throughout the 1930s, tanguy adopted the bohemian lifestyle of the struggling artist with gusto, leading eventually to the failure of his first marriage. in 1938, after seeing the work of fellow artist kay sage, tanguy began a relationship with her that would eventually lead to his second marriage. with the outbreak of world war ii, sage moved back to her native new york, and tanguy, judged unfit for military service, followed her. he would spend the rest of his life in the united states. sage and tanguy were married in reno, nevada on august 17, 1940. toward the end of the war, th
1900_births 1955_deaths 20th-century_American_painters 20th-century_French_painters Artists_from_Paris Deaths_from_stroke French_emigrants_to_the_United_States French_people_of_Breton_descent LycA(c)e_Saint-Louis_alumni Modern_painters People_from_FinistA"re Surrealist_artists