WATTS INDEXThe canonical database of visual culture

Artists›Dorothea Tanning

Dorothea Tanning

Dorothea Tanning

1910

WA-00014127

PaintingSurrealismExpressionism

Representation

None documented

3

Institutional Exhibitions

37

Works in Collection

70

Assets Indexed

4

Authority-backed Facts

0

Publications Referenced

90%

Profile Completeness

Cultural Positioning

Influence Graph

No influence edges encoded yet.

Authority Records (2)

WikidataQ234324

Selected Institutional Exhibitions

View all exhibitions →

No image

Surrealist Prints from the Collection of The Museum of Modern Art

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1987

No image

American Prints: 1913�1963

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1974–1975

No image

Summer Exhibition: New Acquisitions; Recent American Prints, 1947�1953; Katherine S. Dreier Bequest; Kuniyoshi and Spencer; Expressionism in Germany; Varieties of Realism

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1953

Field Verification (4 fields)

1 cross-verified · 3 single-source

Birth yearArtsy· 85%✓
NationalityArtsy· 85%
BiographyGallery Generic· 72%
LocationGallery Generic· 72%

Source Registry (5)

Kasminhttps://www.artsy.net/artist/dorothea-tanning
Tier 3 · Scraped/inferred100%
Christies-Artsyhttps://www.artsy.net/artist/dorothea-tanning
Tier 3 · Scraped/inferred100%
Sothebyshttps://www.sothebys.com/en/artists/dorothea-tanning
Tier 3 · Scraped/inferred100%
MoMA bulk 2026-05-04https://www.moma.org/artists/5806
Tier 1 · Institutional92%
Artist Index
Tier 3 · Scraped/inferred35%

About

Why this artist matters now

No biography available for Dorothea Tanning yet.

Graph relationships

Taste overlap and adjacency

Movement

Surrealism

Medium

Painting

Related Artists

12 in graph

Institutional

Museum Collections

Cleveland Museum of Art Museum of Modern ArtNew York Art Institute of Chicago Tate Whitney Museum of American Art

Canonical record

Artworks (37)

Convolotus alchemelia (Quiet-willow window)

1998 · Oil on canvas

Overall: 56 × 66 1/16 in. (142.2 × 167.8 cm)

Whitney Museum of American Art

1985 · Illustrated book with one lithograph

irreg. composition 10 7/8 x 6 3/4" (27.7 x 17.2 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Green Park

1982 · Watercolor and graphite on off-white wove paper

49.2 × 68.5 cm (19 3/8 × 27 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Events

1982 · Watercolor and graphite with charcoal on off-white wove paper

105 × 75.7 cm (41 3/8 × 29 13/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Notes for an Apocalypse

Notes for an Apocalypse

1978 · Oil on canvas

50 × 62" (127 × 157.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Nue couchée

1969 · Cotton textile, cardboard, 7 table tennis balls, wool and thread

object: 385 x 1089 x 535 mm

Pincushion to Serve as Fetish

Pincushion to Serve as Fetish

1965 · Velvet, plastic funnel, metal pins, sawdust and wool

object: 372 x 370 x 455 mm

Dogs of Cythera

Dogs of Cythera

1963 · Oil on canvas

77 1/2 × 117" (196.9 × 297.2 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Orphans from Dorothea Tanning: Bilder, Gouaches, Zeichnungen 1957-1963

Orphans from Dorothea Tanning: Bilder, Gouaches, Zeichnungen 1957-1963

1963 · Etching

plate: 8 x 6 3/8" (20.3 x 16.2 cm); sheet: 14 9/16 x 9 15/16" (37 x 25.3 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

1963 · intaglio

Cleveland Museum of Art

Untitled (Plate 9) from Personne (Nobody)

1962 · Etching from an illustrated book with nine etchings

plate: 7 5/8 × 6" (19.4 × 15.3 cm); page: 12 × 9 3/4" (30.5 × 24.7 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled (Plate 5) from Personne (Nobody)

1962 · Etching and aquatint (cut horizontally into thirds) from an illustrated book with nine etchings

plate: 7 5/8 × 6" (19.4 × 15.3 cm); page: 12 × 9 3/4" (30.5 × 24.7 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled (Plate 6) from Personne (Nobody)

1962 · Etching (cut horizontally into thirds) from an illustrated book with nine etchings

plate: 7 5/8 × 6" (19.4 × 15.3 cm); page: 12 × 9 3/4" (30.5 × 24.7 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled (Plate 7) from Personne (Nobody)

1962 · Etching (cut horizontally into thirds) from an illustrated book with nine etchings

plate: 7 5/8 × 6" (19.4 × 15.3 cm); page: 12 × 9 3/4" (30.5 × 24.7 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled (Plate 8) from Personne (Nobody)

1962 · Etching (cut horizontally into thirds) from an illustrated book with nine etchings

plate: 7 5/8 × 6" (19.4 × 15.3 cm); page: 12 × 9 3/4" (30.5 × 24.7 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled (Plate 1) from Personne (Nobody)

1962 · Etching (cut horizontally into thirds) from an illustrated book with nine etchings

plate: 7 5/8 × 6 1/16" (19.4 × 15.4 cm); page: 12 × 9 7/8" (30.5 × 25.1 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled (Plate 2) from Personne (Nobody)

1962 · Etching with aquatint (cut horizontally into thirds) from an illustrated book with nine etchings

plate: 7 5/8 × 6" (19.4 × 15.3 cm); page: 12 × 9 3/4" (30.5 × 24.8 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled (Plate 3) from Personne (Nobody)

1962 · Etching (cut horizontally into thirds) from an illustrated book with nine etchings

plate: 7 5/8 × 6" (19.4 × 15.3 cm); page: 12 × 9 3/4" (30.5 × 24.7 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled (Plate 4) from Personne (Nobody)

1962 · Etching and drypoint (cut horizontally into thirds) from an illustrated book with nine etchings

plate: 7 5/8 × 6" (19.4 × 15.3 cm); page: 12 × 9 3/4" (30.5 × 24.7 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Personne (Nobody)

1959 · Illustrated book with nine etchings, two with aquatint, and one with drypoint (eight pages cut horizontally into thirds)

plate (each, uncut): 7 5/8 x 6" (19.4 x 15.3 cm); page (each, uncut): 12 x 9 3/4" (30.5 x 24.7 cm); overall: 12 5/16 x 10 1/8 x 3/8" (31.2 x 25.7 x 1 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Alain Bosquets-Painted Words: Skin

1959 · aquatint with etching, soft-ground, chine collé, and mixed techniques

Cleveland Museum of Art

A Mi-Voix

1958 · Oil paint on canvas

support: 1302 x 972 mm

Head of a Child

Head of a Child

1953 · Watercolor and graphite on buff wove paper

66.6 × 55.4 cm (26 1/4 × 21 13/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Some Roses and Their Phantoms

Some Roses and Their Phantoms

1952 · Oil paint on canvas

support: 763 x 1015 x 23 mm frame: 973 x 1225 x 82 mm

View all 37 artworks →

Artwork sources (5)

37 published of 61 catalogued · 33 with image

MoMA
24 publishedof 48 catalogued24 img
Tate
5 published5 img
Art Institute Chicago
4 published4 img
Cleveland Museum of Art
3 published
Whitney
1 published

Per-Artwork Provenance Chains (top 8)

8 entries · 1 sources

Pincushion to Serve as Fetish
1965 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
1943 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Alain Bosquets-Painted Words: Skin
1959 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Orphans
1963 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Musical Chairs
1951 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
A Mi-Voix
1958 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Nue couchée
1969 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Some Roses and Their Phantoms
1952 · Tate · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number

Record

Images

Artsy artwork: Nude (1985)

Artsy

Artsy artwork: K.O.K. (1983)

Artsy

Artsy artwork: Untitled (1968)

Artsy

Artsy artwork: Untitled (1976)

Artsy

Artsy artwork: I (1986)

Artsy

Artsy artist portrait

Artsy

Dorothea Tanning (Wikipedia)

Wikipedia

Relationships

8

Movements2

Surrealism Expressionism

Collections6

Cleveland Museum of Art Museum of Modern Art Art Institute of Chicago Tate Whitney Museum of American Art Christie's

Institutional

Representation & Collections

In collection

Cleveland Museum of Art

In collection

Museum of Modern Art

New York, US

In collection

Art Institute of Chicago

In collection

Tate

In collection

Whitney Museum of American Art

Market

Auction sale history

Houses that have sold works by this artist at auction

Record

Exhibitions and timeline

Group Exhibition Surrealist Prints from the Collection of The Museum of Modern Art

New York · 1987

Group Exhibition American Prints: 1913�1963

New York · 1974

Group Exhibition Summer Exhibition: New Acquisitions; Recent American Prints, 1947�1953; Katherine S. Dreier Bequest; Kuniyoshi and Spencer; Expressionism in Germany; Varieties of Realism

New York · 1953