“You can’t be born a surrealist. You become one — in your own way.”
(Dorothea Tanning)
Surreal Imagination in Line, Form, and Print
Dorothea Tanning was an American artist whose work spans painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, and poetry. Born in 1910 in Galesburg, Illinois, she became one of the few women closely associated with the Surrealist movement, yet her work remained fiercely independent, experimental, and deeply personal throughout her life.
Though often recognized for her early surrealist paintings, Tanning’s graphic works — especially her drawings, lithographs, and etchings — reveal a more intimate and poetic side of her vision. These works on paper feature delicate yet powerful line work, dreamlike transformations, and mysterious feminine forms caught in the act of becoming something other. Her prints often center on themes of metamorphosis, desire, and the subconscious, combining technical precision with intuitive freedom.
Tanning’s approach to printmaking was not decorative or illustrative, but exploratory. She used the medium to strip away the noise of color and gesture, allowing form, texture, and concept to speak in a quieter but no less haunting voice. In her hands, a single etched line could evoke entire inner worlds.
“I wanted something that you couldn’t name, that you couldn’t categorize, something that would escape the label of ‘style’.”
Though she lived and worked alongside major figures of 20th-century art — including her partner Max Ernst — Tanning refused to be defined by any movement or by her associations. Her graphic works reflect this ethos: strange and sensual, elegant and unsettling, they are autonomous creations that speak of inner freedom and boundless imagination.
Dorothea Tanning died in 2012, just shy of her 102nd birthday. Her legacy lives on in collections, exhibitions, and in every drawing or print that dares to look beyond the visible.