Dorothea Tanning

Dorothea Tanning (1910–2012) was an American surrealist artist known for her psychologically charged paintings, sculptures, and writings. Emerging in the 1940s, her work featured dreamlike, unsettling imagery that explored themes of identity, transformation, and the unconscious. Tanning's early masterpieces, like Birthday (1942), blended innocence with a sense of foreboding, while her later works incorporated abstraction and the human body. A key figure in the surrealist movement, she was married to artist Max Ernst and maintained a distinct, independent voice throughout her career. Tanning was also a writer, publishing poetry and a memoir, Between Lives (2001). Her legacy endures as a pioneering force in surrealism, celebrated for both her creative innovation and intellectual depth.