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Dorothea Tanning
Self-Portrait, 1944

Artwork Info

Artwork title
Self-Portrait
Artist name
Dorothea Tanning
Date created
1944
Classification
painting
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
24 in. × 30 in. (60.96 cm × 76.2 cm)
Date acquired
2014
Credit
Collection SFMOMA
Purchase, by exchange, through a fractional gift of Shirley Ross Davis
Copyright
© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Permanent URL
https://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/2014.121
Artwork status
On view on floor 2 as part of Open Ended: SFMOMA's Collection, 1900 to Now

Audio Stories

The artist on her time in Arizona

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transcripts

SFX: Fade in wind blowing, arid soundscape, distant coyote. Bells. 

 

NARRATOR:  

Take a look at that figure, standing with her back to us. Shes the artist: Dorothea Tanning. She created this painting in her studio in New York, after spending a year in Arizona. She painted it from memory, using no reference images on purpose.  

 

TANNING:  

Red rock country is what it’s called. All these fantastic red shapes. And it’s beautiful to see, but if you’re painting, you just can’t paint that red. It’s overwhelming. 

 

A very nice thing happens when people see you in a remote place like that. We are not the same people as when we see each other in New York parties, when everything is very tense, and even a little superficial. When you see each other in a place like Sedona, Arizona, all those fronts and those veils are down, and you speak to each other in a very true and natural way.  

 

SFX: Fade out arid landscape 

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