Definition

1. Proper noun:
   • A 20th-century surrealist painter: Yves Tanguy was an artist known for his distinctive surrealist paintings, characterized by dreamlike, abstract landscapes and strange, biomorphic forms. He was born in France but spent much of his later career in the United States.

Usage

• Proper noun:
  • The museum is hosting a major retrospective of Yves Tanguy.
  • Yves Tanguy's work is often cited as a prime example of biomorphic surrealism.

Advanced Usage

• "In the style of Yves Tanguy": Describing artwork that features similar abstract, dreamlike, and otherworldly qualities.
  • The artist's latest series, with its barren plains and floating forms, is clearly in the style of Yves Tanguy.

Variants and Related Words

• Surrealist (noun/adjective): A member of the surrealism movement, or art characterized by fantastic imagery and incongruous juxtapositions.
  • Salvador Dalí was another famous surrealist contemporary of Tanguy.
• Biomorphism (noun): A style in modern art that uses forms abstracted from living organisms.
  • Tanguy's paintings are key works in the history of biomorphism.

Synonyms

• Surrealist painter: An artist belonging to the surrealism movement.
• Modernist artist: An artist working within the broad 20th-century modernist tradition.

Related Phrases

• Tanguyesque (adjective): Resembling or characteristic of the art of Yves Tanguy. (Note: This is a derived term, not a phrasal verb).
  • The film's set design featured a Tanguyesque landscape of strange, rock-like forms.

Noun

1. United States surrealist painter (born in France) (1900-1955)