Analysis of Tanguy's Painting "The Earth and the Air"

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The earth and the air is an oil painting by the French Surrealist Yves Tanguy. It is one of the modern art paintings in the Cone Collection, in the Baltimore Museum of Art. It is created by Tanguy in 1941. It is about 30” x 40” wide with a wooden frame. The background colors divide the piece into mainly two sections, the top and the bottom part. The top part is about 3/5 of the whole piece. It is painted in blue and white, like a watercolor-like sky without any subject matters. It has a dreamy feeling because the colors blend smoothly.

There is no clear horizon line in the painting but it is still possible to separate the ground and the sky by the background colors or the compositions. The top part is in mainly blue and white while the bottom part is in grey. Also there is no subject matter on the top part while there are many abstract objects at the bottom. The three-dimensional objects vary in shapes, sizes and colors. Since there is no horizon line, it is difficult to determine at what point earth becomes sky and whether objects rest on the ground or floating aloft.

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